Duel Academy
by YamiRuss
Summary: Part I of *The Duelist's Spirit*. At the world's premier four-year dueling college, Bryan Knight and Matthew Luther duel to make a name for themselves against dueling teams, Guardian Duelers, and international tournament duelists. Original characters
1. The New School Year

Chapter 1: The New School Year

"Congratulations," duel proctor Ted told his opponent. "You win the duel."

"Thanks," Bryan said, "but it's not much of a surprise."

Bryan Knight was the kind of guy who had a myriad of talents, and when he learned how to do something, he learned it well. Dueling was just one example, but it was one of Bryan's greatest passions. He played football in high school, but physical activity was rarely as fulfilling for Bryan's character as strategy games. He thrived on exercising his mind more than anything; despite his large, muscular body, Bryan was among the smartest eighteen-year-olds one might meet on the street. Once he traded in his glasses for contacts full time, Bryan's dark hair, his movie star smile, and his charm made him very popular with the ladies.

"What did you think?" he asked his best friend when he once again took his seat in the stands to watch the other duels.

"Not bad," Matt replied. "You managed to take him out in only two turns."

"Yeah, I know. I'm slacking, but you know? I thought the entrance exams for the Duel Academy would be more difficult. This _is_ supposed to be a collection of the best duelists in the country, after all. How are they going to weed out the weak duelists if they use weaker duelists as proctors?"

"To be fair," Matt suggested, "I don't think the weakness is entirely the fault of the proctors. I think the testing decks they picked out for today were probably the real weakness."

Matthew Luther was Bryan's best friend, and had been ever since early high school. The two did nearly everything together, and although they each had some areas where their strengths differed, they shared so many characteristics people often thought they were brothers. They even looked similar—their hair was the same dark color though Matt's curled more, and Matt decided the glasses were a better look for him. Bryan's body frame was much bigger than Matt's, but they were both avid gym-goers and certainly looked like it.

Similarly, Matt was just as talented at Duel Monsters as Bryan. The two even used similar cards when they first started playing. Both friends made use of warrior types as kids. Matt branched off into other monsters, but he still kept a supply of warriors in case he should decide to go back that way. And neither guy ever lacked in confidence.

"Have you caught a glimpse of anyone who looks promising?" Bryan asked.

"Well, this young lady over here with the Amazon deck is pretty decent. Fortunately she's way cuter than any Amazon."

"That's good," Bryan agreed. "Those women in the _War of the Amazon_ scared me. They had faces that could stop a clock."

"Otherwise, I saw a guy with a beastdown deck that looked fairly decent."

"Did you see that Harpy deck earlier?"

"I caught a glimpse of it, but I was really focusing more on that one girl's Dragon deck. It started out fairly decent, but she ended up losing the duel. Apparently she was a better duelist in theory than in practice. Not like that other girl whose dragons focused on the Red-Eyes. She was pretty impressive."

Duel Academy, started by Kaiba Corporation many years earlier, was the premier dueling school for up-and-comers. In order to apply, a duelist must first place at a regional youth tournament or any national tournament. After receiving an invitation from the Academy, the duelist goes to the local Kaiba Corp. factory or sanctioned game shop to take a written examination. Only those who receive a score of eighty-five percent or better are allowed to proceed to the second application step. Currently in full swing, the second step is the practical examination, a field duel against faculty-prepared dueling decks with student proctors.

Due to a twist of fate and a power outage during the night, Matt was the last duelist to apply for the practical exam before the registration window closed. With six dueling arenas open for duels and exactly ninety-seven applicants, that left Matt as the final duelist to apply for the day. After all other duels ended, he was beckoned to the first stage.

"Looks like you're the last duel," Bryan said, "and everyone has to watch."

Matt grinned as he grabbed his deck.

"Fits well, don't you think? They might as well get a glimpse now of one of their two new school champions."

Bryan ginned back and gave Matt a high five.

"It's go time."

Matt entered the arena with his deck loaded and met the duel proctor. He was a senior student named Andy Matsuura, one of the top-ranked duelists in the school. Andy was a student of Japanese descent, which is not uncommon because the strongest duelists tended to be Japanese or American. Andy was of average height and size, had dark hair and eyes, and a friendly smile that rarely left his face. Fortunately for Matt, Andy was only using a test deck rather than his personal deck, vastly increasing Matt's odds of victory, but Matt still felt the honor of dueling someone who knew such impressive strategies as to make it to the senior level.

"It's nice to meet you, Matt," Andy said. "Are you ready to start your exam?"

"Are you kidding?" Matt replied. "I'm only sorry you're stuck using a test deck rather than a deck with some real power in it."

Matt and Andy took opposite seats at a computerized table with electronic plates designed to read electronic codes in duel cards. Electronic duels allow permanent records of duels—which makes record-keeping more automatic—and enable three-dimensional holograms of cards and their effects. The holograms add a sense of realism to duels and excitement for those involved. A miniaturized, portable version of the holographic technology is available in the form of a Duel Disk, but many freshmen do not own one, at least not until they get accepted to the Academy.

Andy smiled and nodded. "Then let's get this duel underway. You take the first turn since you are the applicant."

"May I request you start?" Matt asked.

"I guess that's okay, if you're sure," Andy replied.

Permit a brief departure from the story for a quick summary of the rules of dueling. A duel deck consists of monsters, spells, and traps, totaling a minimum of forty cards. Monsters are how a player defends himself/herself and how a player attacks the opponent. A monster's star level determines the ease with which it can be played: With up to four stars, a monster can be played right away; with five or six stars, a monster requires another monster already on the field be sent to the Graveyard (discard pile) in order to be played; with seven or more stars, a monster requires two other monsters be offered as tribute. A player can normally summon only one monster per turn, but there are card effects that allow Special summons, which have no limit per turn. On the dueling field, a player can have a maximum of five monsters at a time.

A player can activate spells from his/her hand immediately for various effects. Generally spells are discarded immediately after use, but certain spells have lasting effects and certain spells can be placed on the field and activated at a later time. Traps cannot be activated from the hand; a player has to leave the trap on the field for at least one turn before he/she is allowed to activate it. A player can have a maximum of five spells and/or traps at a time unless one of the spells is a Field spell—they have separate zones on the dueling field and do not count toward the five-spell/trap limit.

Card effects vary so widely that many times are these general rules broken, but these are the basic rules of the game. To clarify some terminology, take a moment to read the following. "Life Points" (LP) are the heart of a duelist during a duel; when LP hit 0, the player loses—as a side note, LP can never have a negative value. "Normal summon" means to play a monster face-up; the opposite is to "set," which means to place a card (monster, spell, or trap) facedown. While a card is facedown, only the owner may look at it; the opponent doesn't get to know what it is. "Flip summon" means to take a facedown monster and flip it face-up; some monsters gain special effects this way, and sometimes it's simply necessary to hide a monster for a few turns. "Special summon" means a monster is summoned by a special card effect and not by normal summon. "Chain" is the term when multiple card effects activate in sequence. "Direct attack" is when a monster attacks and the opponent cannot defend against it; likewise, "direct damage" is damage dealt directly to an opponent's LP.

Andy took the first turn and set a monster in facedown defense mode. Matt commented on Andy's slow start, but Andy assured him, "Slow and steady is not just a cliché."

Bryan leaned close to an attractive blonde sitting nearby in the stands and commented, "You'll like this. Matt has a nice Yugi Mutou deck."

Matt drew his first card and looked over his opening hand. He didn't have a single monster card; he only had a trap and five spells. Despite Bryan's early praise, Matt might struggle with a hand like this. He did have one spell that could allow him to summon a monster from his deck, but it was an expensive card. Still, he didn't see much choice right now; no monster meant no defense.

"I'll play Dark Magic Curtain. At the cost of half my LP, I get to special summon Dark Magician (7/2500/2100) from my deck to the field."

Andy chuckled at this point. Sure, Matt had a big monster on the field, but he flushed 4000 LP to get him there. In a typical duel, the players start with 8000 LP and try to get the opponent to 0. Matt already accomplished half the duel in Andy's favor.

"You made a Yugi Mutou deck?" he asked, trying not to sound too condescending.

"Is that a problem?" Matt asked, basically challenging Andy to mock his cards.

"No. Just noticing that you can always tell a new kid because they think they can model their decks after someone famous and actually win some duels."

Matt grinned. "I might not make fun of new kids," he suggested. "I'm about to take the lead, I think. If I play the spell Thousand Knives while a Dark Magician is on the field, I can destroy one monster you control." Needless to say, he selected the facedown monster Andy set earlier. Andy's field was now empty. "You're wide open," Matt commented. He kept staring at his cards the whole time he spoke. "I'm going to play the equipment spell Megamorph." When Andy gasped, Matt chuckled and said, "Yeah. You know that one. It doubles my Dark Magician's (+5000) attack points because my LP are lower than yours. _Now_ I'll attack you directly." With that one attack, Matt went from a 4000-to-8000-point deficit to a 4000-to-3000-point lead. "I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn." Matt 8000 / 2 = 4000: Andy 8000 – 5000 = 3000.

Andy gave a friendly smile as he drew. "That was pretty good," he admitted. "But don't forget Megamorph's other effect."

"Other effect?" Matt repeated and looked down to read his card more closely. "Oh, look at that. It says that if my LP go higher than yours, my Dark Magician's (-1250) attack points get cut in half."

"That's right," Andy mocked. "I'll summon Exarion Universe (4/1800/1900) to the field."

"Cool card," Matt said when he saw the shiny foil. "What does he do?" Apparently he was a better comedian than he realized because a few of the spectator girls giggled in response to the question. Andy laughed more heartily. He was comfortable admitting that he didn't like the fact that Matt had two unknown cards, but he was also confident that Matt hardly knew what he was doing given that he didn't even know about Megamorph's side effect and never heard of Exarion Universe.

"He can reduce his attack points to deal piercing damage," Andy explained. "But I don't need to worry about that when your monster's not even in defense mode. Now let's go ahead and force your hand. I'll attack Dark Magician (1250) with Exarion Universe (1800)."

"Okay," Matt said as he slowly lifted the back ends of his facedown cards to remind himself what they were. He paused a moment, then repeated, "Okay. I got it. I'll play Magic Cylinder, a trap that negates your attack and deals damage to you equal to your monster's attack points. _But_, I'll chain to it Tailor of the Fickle, a quick-play spell that lets me take Megamorph off of my monster and put it on yours. Now as I recall, a chain resolves in the reverse order of activation. That means Dark Magician's (+2500) points return to normal and Exarion Universe (+3600) gets a boost, _and then_ Exarion Universe's attack is reflected at you directly. Right?"

Andy was shocked. As one with reasonable math skills can conclude, that last turn ended the duel; Andy suffered 3600 points of damage against his mere 3000 LP. Matt 4000: Andy 3000 – 3600 = 0.

"I must say I'm impressed," Andy said. "You were right about the test deck being weak, but even against my personal deck, yours would put up a strong showing if you played like that."

"I appreciate the praise," Matt said.

"Welcome to Duel Academy," Andy told him. "I get the feeling I'll see you around the campus."

Matt and Bryan reconvened and joined the class of freshmen who managed to pass both the written tests and the practical exams. The new class totaled forty-four of the ninety-seven who applied. Bryan, of course, thought the class was still much too big, but Matt reminded him that a bigger class meant more girls, even though duelists comprise largely a male population. And it didn't matter how many students there were; they were going straight to the top, and no one would stop them.

"Congratulations, freshmen," Headmaster Corbin West told the crowd. "You are indeed the best and brightest of the country. Be aware that as long as you are at Duel Academy, you will be tested constantly. Written exams will assess how well you understand the game, and practical exams will assess how well you are able to duel. I know each and every one of you will make us proud in your stay here.

"Welcome to Duel Academy."


	2. Welcome to Duel Academy

Chapter 2: Welcome to Duel Academy

"Attention, Duel Academy students. If you look outside your window, you'll see your new home away from home on the horizon."

The students flew to the island on two Kaiba Corp. transport carriers. They were provided by Kaiba Corp. for orientation because the transportation was faster than shipping all the students by boat. Bryan and Matt were among the first students to load up so they could claim the more comfortable seats.

The island was designed like a giant college campus. It consisted of three student residences, a large dining facility, an infirmary, a pavilion, three advanced dueling facilities, an administrative building, a plush residence for the faculty, and two dozen duel stations designed with holographic technology to render duels three-dimensional. The campus also held a bookstore/card shop, a couple of cafés, a large recreational facility, and a half dozen academic lecture halls. And the campus was located not too far from Kazuki, a small town that never grew too big in order to protect the students, founded by legendary Kaiba Corp. CEO Seto Kaiba.

Shortly after landing, all the new students unloaded from the choppers and assembled in the main courtyard area of the Academy. There, Headmaster West gave another welcome speech. Dr. West was not old, but he was not a young man anymore. His gray hair and weight gain was testament to his age and slowing biological processes. Even so, he was the sweetest man in the world, unless he crossed you in a duel. He was as powerful as anyone on the duel field.

"Good morning and welcome, my students," he announced. "I'm Dr. West, headmaster here at Duel Academy. And you are the best and brightest young duelists in the world. I look forward to the best school year ever. I know you all will make me proud by being the greatest duelists you can be. Now, please meet with your advisors and get yourselves settled into your dorm. The class dinner will begin at nineteen hundred hours. I will see you all then."

There were three dorms on campus, each designated for students depending on skill level. All first-year students are placed in the Red Dorm, upperclassmen with skill levels that are merely sufficient live in the Yellow Dorm, and upperclassmen with impressive skill live in the Blue Mansion. The Yellow Dorm was the largest to accommodate the greatest number of students, while the Blue Mansion was so selective it rarely had more than twenty residents at a time. The only exception to the first-year rule was that freshmen who went to private schools accredited by Kaiba Corp. were placed in the Yellow Dorm, or the Blue Mansion if their entrance scores were high enough.

Residents wear school uniforms based on their dormitories and sex. Bryan and Matt were provided with red blazers with white trim as part of their tuition to symbolize their residence in the Red Dorm. In addition, uniforms comprise khaki or black slacks. Yellow Dorm men wear the same uniform with yellow blazers with white trim instead. Blue Mansion men wear long-tailed, blue jackets with white trim in place of blazers. Jacket colors could be inverted, however, such that some of the guys in Bryan and Matt's suite wore white blazers with red trim. Women wear similar outfits, but they wear skirts instead of slacks. Most women choose to wear skirts matching the color of the dorm and white jackets, but like the guys, they have the option of wearing colored jackets and white skirts.

When going to class or Academy functions, students are required to wear their uniforms. On their own time, they could wear their own clothes.

The second floor of the Red dorm was designated for females only while the third was for males. Of the forty-four new students, twenty-four were male and sixteen were female moving into in the Red Dorm. The other four students were two males and a female in the Yellow Dorm and a male who reached the Blue Mansion.

"Not a bad setup," Matt said as he unpacked his bag. He and Bryan were roommates on the third floor of the Red Dorm. Their room was fairly small, but after they bunked the beds and pushed the dressers into the closet, they had plenty of floor space to move their desks around and set up a big screen TV next to the mini-fridge.

"It'll do for now," Bryan said. "Until next year when we move to the Blue Mansion, anyway."

"I wonder what it looks like over there," Matt commented. "Gotta be amazing. I bet they have their own maid service and whatnot."

"You're probably right. We should go by there after dinner and check it out. We can also go check out the Yellow Dorm. You know, since we'll never have to live there ourselves, we might as well see what it's like."

"True enough."

"Now we're set to keep ourselves in top shape. What do you say to a duel?"

"I say it's wasted effort right now," Matt said. "You and I already know how to beat one another, so at this point, it's all luck of the draw. What we _should_ do is get a small party together after that dinner and duel some new faces."

"Ooo, I like that. Actually, the food idea sounds even better. I'm starving."

"You're always starving. That's why you're so big."

Bryan laughed. "Well, I can't help it that muscles eat so many calories. Just one of the downfalls of being so gorgeously in shape."

"At least it hasn't inflated your ego."

A few minutes later, all the students in the Red Dorm were called to the dining hall for the big welcome dinner. There they were reintroduced to the freshman professors. Professor Roger Baker was the advisor for the males, and Dr. Sasha Kerr was the advisor for the females. Both professors acted as resident advisors for the students, and they each had impressive reputations as powerful duelists. Baker was a police officer before he got his teaching license, and he was still mostly in shape for it. He worked as a security duelist for a time before he applied to train Kaiba Corp. security officers, and eventually was requested to teach at Duel Academy.

Dr. Kerr got her doctorate in social psychology, which meant she had multiple functions in the school; she taught courses and conducted research into social and duel trends of the students at Kaiba Corp.'s request. She was also a good friend and counselor when students needed to talk.

Headmaster West was also at the dinner and once again welcomed everyone, wishing them luck and fun at school. He invited every student to feel free to contact any faculty member anytime there was a problem.

The rules of the school were introduced next. Some of them struck Bryan as stupid and pointless. Especially anything that involved separating males and females.

"Rule No. 1 is the obvious one: No drugs or alcohol will be tolerated on campus. For any of you who are 21, we can't actually force you not to drink in town, but you will be punished if you are caught with alcohol on campus, or if you provide alcohol to anyone underage. Feel free to infer that any illegal act also constitutes a rules violation.

Rule No. 2 is also simple: no co-educational sleepovers. Your dorm room is for you and your roommate to sleep only. Males seen on the female floor after 2200 will be submitted to immediate disciplinary action, as well as their female cohorts. The same goes for females seen on the male floor after 2200."

"Geez," Bryan whined. "What a gyp. What fun is it to live with a bunch of females if you can't even be with them real late?"

"Rule No. 3 is closely related: No males may use the bathrooms on the female floor, and vice versa. Infringing on this rule is grounds for immediate suspension, and two violations will result in expulsion from the Academy."

"Yeesh," Matt said. "That sounds a bit extreme."

"Rule No. 4 is that students are forbidden to be anywhere other than inside their own dorm after midnight without being escorted by a member of the faculty. This rule is particularly important for campus safety.

"Rule No. 5 is that everyone needs to wear clothing that is tasteful, appropriate, and doesn't offend anybody. That last part can be a little flexible, but please don't _knowingly_ offend one another, and definitely _talk_ to each other and the counselors about the offense before you start using foul language. Oh! That's another good rule: Avoid foul language. We're all intelligent, mature duelists who do not need to use foul language to get through a duel. That kinda goes alongside the being offensive thing."

Matt commented, "Which so far only applies to clothing, not actually _being_ offensive."

"In general, behave yourselves and respect others. Do not be unreasonably loud at any time but especially at night. Do not interfere with another duelist's attempts to study or build a deck. Do not damage any property of the camp or of other campers. And do not engage in physical or verbal abuse of any sort. Are there any questions about the rules?" As always, people had questions, but none were about the rules. Everyone was eager to duel one another.

Baker got up and introduced himself again, then said, "That ought to cover the 'thou shalt not' rules. For the more positive rules: If you wish to schedule an official duel with any particular student, fill out a Duel Request form. You can find them at any arena by the ticket booth, or with any faculty member. After you fill it out, it will be sent to the requested. If he or she accepts, the duel will be placed on the calendar. As with all official duels, anyone is allowed to watch.

"The maps of the campgrounds that you all should have received indicate the locations of electronic duel tables. The use of electronic equipment is necessary to log the majority of duels. You are welcome to use your own Duel Disks if you brought them, but you must register them before duel information will be transmitted to the camp database. Any electronic duel will go on record. You are all welcome to duel the old-fashioned way at any time and as often as you like, but you will not get camp credit for those duels.

"What's the advantage to going on record, you ask? At the end of each semester, the duelists in each class with the highest winning percentage and the highest total of wins will be recognized and awarded prizes. Consolation prizes will be awarded to runner-ups, as well." When asked what the prizes were, Corbin remained cryptic, saying only that they were actively sought by the most avid duelists.

"Lastly, all students are required to participate in the placement exams two weeks from now. You will begin classes in two days and will have about two weeks to learn as much as you can to improve before the placement exams."

"Excuse me," Bryan spoke while simultaneously raising his hand. "What do we get when we get the top ranks?"

Baker smiled. "Well, the top two males and the top two females are named 'prefects' of the Red Dorm and obtain special privileges. That is your incentive for doing the best you can. Realize you only have to place among your immediate peers. Upperclassmen do not participate in placement exams because their final exam grades from last year determined their current ranks."

"So you mean the highest rank we can get is a 76?" Matt asked. "What a gyp."

"See?" Bryan said. "I'm not the only one who wants to be at the top."

"Well, Matt and Bryan," Baker said, remembering meeting them earlier, "after the placement exam, all freshmen are permitted to challenge upperclassmen, but only for rank changes. Your dorm will not change until after your first year is complete."

When all the questions were answered, the orientation dinner began.

In the mess hall, the students could have their pick of food from the buffet-style meal provided by the campus cooking staff, who received a brief introduction before the meal began. Being of a smaller frame, Matt's meal was smaller than what Bryan had in mind. He continued collecting food while Matt found a seat and began eating. Just as Bryan was reaching for some cookies to scarf at the end of the meal, he was confronted by a girl who looked like she was sucking on a Sour Patch Kids. Although the scowl on her face made her seem less friendly, she was a pretty girl. She had dirty-blonde hair, a great tan, and athletic legs.

"You guys sound really confident," she said to Bryan.

"You're very perceptive," Bryan replied.

The girl forced a laugh. "Annoyingly confident, I hate to say. You probably won't make a whole lot of friends around here with that kind of attitude."

"Come on," Bryan said. "I'm a great friend. I'm an even better duelist. I'm sure everyone here has some impressive skills. But I really doubt they have the ability my roommate and I do."

The girl shook her head, disappointed in the level of arrogance Bryan was already emitting.

"I remember his audition," she said. "In fact, _you_ assured me Matt would put on a good show with his Yugi Mutou deck."

"I did?" he replied. "Let me think a moment… You're the young lady who had the Harpy Deck, right?"

"I guess I'm not the only perceptive one," she replied. "My name is Cary Strickland. I'm only sitting six seats down from your friend at the table."

"Right, I saw. Sorry I didn't say 'hi' right away or anything. I figured I'd probably meet everyone here at some point or another. Especially if we're all going to live together for a year."

"I understand," Cary said. "It's just the kind of person you are."

Bryan felt her metaphorical slap to the face. "A more subtle approach would be to say I'm busier than everyone else. It doesn't take a genius to figure you are not too impressed with your first impression of me. Or Matt, I take it."

"Your character seems like a bully to me. You're big and strong, and very aware of it, but you're also arrogant, egotistical, and you seem very self-centered."

"You've obviously mastered the use of a thesaurus. You just said the same thing about me three times."

"You didn't argue with me," she pointed out.

"In large part because you're not totally wrong," Bryan laughed. "I have a lot of confidence, so I place a lot more faith in myself. How about this? I know first impressions are important, but they aren't final. Matt and I are going to wander around campus after dinner. Why don't you come with us? You can bring a friend, or seven if it makes you feel better to outnumber us."

"I don't know," she said.

"Come on. What's the worst thing that can happen? You find out you don't like either of us, then you resent us for being much better duelists than we are socialites."

Cary groaned. She believed that confidence helps a person win a duel, but Bryan seemed to take it to the extreme. He acted like he was God's gift to the game, and that drove her nuts. But who knows? Maybe if she listened to the two of them for a bit and watched them duel a few times, she could learn how to beat them. After all, she already learned enough about Matt's deck to beat his strategy.

"Okay," she said. "I'll give you a chance."

And so after dinner, Matt and Bryan met with Cary. A single glance at her legs told Matt why Bryan was interested in having her tag along, and he didn't blame him.

"And who is this lovely young lady?" Matt asked.

"Nice try," Cary preempted, "but I'm not falling for any of that false modestly sweet talk. I have no interest in romance from either of you. Bryan just invited me to wander the island, and I thought I'd be better off wandering with someone than alone."

Disappointed but understanding, Matt replied, "Fair enough. I thought we'd start with the Yellow Dorm."

For the time being, the trio wandered from the Red Dorm to the kinesiology department. What drew them there were the quality baseball and football fields, as well as the stadium around them. Apparently the stadium was designed to seat a maximum of four family members per student, plus half the population of Kenzi. Although sporting events were not as popular at the Academy as duel events were, they still drew fair audiences. Matt and Bryan immediately made plans to sign up for both sports.

The next stop was the academic buildings. The buildings were locked, but the students could get a look and see where to find each specific building. The Yellow Dorm was next on the list. Outside the Yellow Arena, a small gathering of students noticed the approaching freshmen.

"What do we have here?"

"Looks like some freshmen got lost," one of them commented. Each student was wearing a yellow jacket, so they were clearly residents of the Yellow Dorm. Three guys and two girls showed a certain level of disdain toward freshmen—which has never really made sense.

"Not true," Bryan replied. "Our dorm is right over there. We were just wandering around. Wanted to check out the island. That kind of stuff."

One of the guys with an inordinate amount of gel in his hair stared for a moment at Bryan's sheer size, then toned down the annoying upperclassman attitude. He stepped forward and pointed to Matt, though, saying, "You're that guy everyone's talking about."

"You mean he's the one who won the entrance exam against Andy in only one turn?" asked Jeri, the girl with the dark skin and piercings all the way around both ears.

Matt nodded. "That's me. Why? Who are you?"

"The name's Shane. I'm ranked number six in the Yellow Dorm. What would you say to a duel?" Shane was tall and skinny, but while Bryan's face was confident and friendly, Shane's was just arrogant.

"Now?" Matt asked. "Can't we wait until we can make it official? You know, so I can claim your rank at the end?"

Shane scoffed. "Believe me, I'm no pushover like that testing deck was."

"Good," Cary said. "I want to see Matt have a real challenge."

The Yellow duelists pointed out one of the electronic duel tables and set up the duel. Matt and Shane shuffled one another's decks, then Matt asked:

"Who starts?"

Shane explained that the most common method of choosing who gets the first turn is to play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever wins gets to make the decision about who goes first. A quick game ended with Matt's scissors losing to Shane's rock. Shane took the initiative.

"I'll start with A Legendary Ocean." This was a field spell, a lasting card that affects both players unless otherwise specified.

This was also when Matt and Bryan got to see the real appeal to these electronic duel tables. The plate sensors read the card and provide options on a small computer screen for what card it thinks a player just used. The player indicates the correct card, and the computer simulates the card inside a holographic box between the two players. In this case, the box filled with water, and a sunken castle appeared in the depths to simulate Shane's card.

After spending a moment appreciating the technology, Matt said. "I'm sorry. I'm still relatively new at this game. What does that do?"

"You don't know A Legendary Ocean? Have you even looked at a water deck before?" Shane mocked.

Cary commented to Bryan, "He seems a little slower in the head than I expected."

Bryan came to Matt's defense loudly enough for everyone to hear it. "Think of learning to duel like learning a language. You have to learn not only vocabulary, but also the rules of syntax and semantic usage. The vocabulary is the cards and the syntax is the finer rules of game play. Matt may not have developed quite the same vocabulary as you'd expect from an average Academy student, but he's a _very_ quick study when it comes to syntax."

Cary grinned but shook her head slightly. "You are such a nerd." She didn't have a problem with nerds—"nerd" and "duelist" are practically synonymous sometimes—but a guy who looks like Bryan tends to shatter the nerd stereotype.

"A Legendary Ocean reduces the star level of water monsters by one and increases the attack and defense points of a water monster by 200." After a goofy admission by Matt that the card was pretty cool, Shane continued his turn. "I'll also summon Giga Gagagigo (4/2650/1700) and set two cards on the field."

"My turn," Matt said excitedly. "Oh, this is a pretty good hand."

"What a Poker face," Cary laughed.

"Have you ever _seen_ him play Poker?" Bryan whispered. "He never lets slip a stray word."

Matt continued his turn thusly: "I'll summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (4/1900/1000). When he's summoned, he gets a Spell Counter that increases his attack by 300. If I remove that Spell Counter, his Breaker's (1600) attack goes down, but I can destroy one of your facedown cards."

"I know what it does," Shane said. "_I'm_ not the new guy."

"Force of habit," Matt said. "Bryan and I always remind each other what our cards do to help foster memory of the cards. I'll destroy that card," he said and pointed to one.

"That was Gravity Bind," Shane confessed. Matt wasn't sure right away what it did, but he didn't care anymore with the trap in the Graveyard.

"Okay. Now I'll play Magical Dimension, and this card lets me send my spellcaster to the Graveyard to special summon a Dark Magician (7/2500/2100) from my hand and destroy a monster on your field. Your Giga Gaga… That's a tough name."

"Giga Gagagigo," Shane said as if it were English.

"Right. Anyway, now I'll attack you directly."

"No, you won't," Shane argued. "My other card is Tornado Wall. As long as Umi—which A Legendary Ocean mimics—is on the field, I can't take damage from direct attacks."

"Dude, that's a good move," Matt said. "I'll set two cards and end my turn." Matt 8000: Shane 8000.

Shane drew and said, "Ah, here we go. I'll activate Level Limit – Area B." He started to pull another card, then stopped and added, "Oh. It switches all monsters level four and higher to defense mode, and they can't switch as long as this card is on the field. Then I'll summon Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 (3/1700/1500); A Legendary Ocean reduces his level and increases his other stats. And when Umi—or an approved facsimile—is on the field, Bugroth can attack directly."

"Crap," Matt uttered. "That's a pretty sweet combo." Matt 8000 – 1700 = 6300: Shane 8000.

"Yes, it is," Shane agreed. "I end my turn."

Matt drew and looked over his hand. "Okay, I don't have anything to change the situation, so I guess I'll just set a monster and let you go again."

"A set monster, huh? Well, let's see if my Mermaid Knight (3/1700/900) can't destroy it."

"Not right away," Matt said. "My monster is Big Shield Gardna (4/100/2600). Its defense points are _way_ higher than your attack points. That means you take recoil damage from the attack."

"Normally that's true," Shane explained, "but Tornado Wall reduces _all_ of my battle damage to zero, even the stuff that's my own fault. On the other hand, Big Shield Gardna switches to attack mode after it gets attacked, and Mermaid Knight gets to attack twice."

Matt looked at the field again and said, "Not this time. Big Shield Gardna _would_ switch to attack mode, but it is level four and Level Limit keeps all level four monsters in defense mode."

It's not that Shane didn't know that; it's just that when one gets real excited about a combo play, one sometimes forgets other things that interfere with the combo. He acknowledged the oversight and proceeded with, "Oh yeah. I'll have Bugroth (1700) attack directly again, then. That's it for now." Matt 6300 – 1700 = 4600: Shane 8000.

Matt looked over his hand and shook his head. "Nothing yet. Your turn."

"That's the problem with a Dark Magician deck," Shane commented. "You get a lot of dead draws, especially when you can't use your big monsters. I'll set one more card, and just to be safe I'll play Field Barrier. That will protect A Legendary Ocean in the event you try to destroy it. Then I'll attack directly with Bugroth (1700) again. I'll give you one more turn." Matt 4600 – 1700 = 2900: Shane 8000.

Matt smiled. "That's so nice of you to go easy on me." He drew a card and got excited. "I'll activate Dark Magic Attack. This spell activates when a Dark Magician is on the field, and it destroys every spell and trap on your field."

Shane scoffed. "I kinda expected that. That's why I played Field Barrier. Your spell destroys the Field Barrier card, but not A Legendary Ocean because of the way your effect resolves with mine."

"That's fine," Matt said. "I don't care. With your Level Limit card gone, I'll put Dark Magician (2500) back in attack mode. Now is a good time to activate my facedown cards. The first is Ojama Trio, which summons three Ojama Tokens (1/0/1000) to your side of the field in defense mode. The other one is Ebon Arrow, which lets my Dark Magician (2000) deal piercing damage this turn at the cost of losing 500 attack points.

"My last card is Diffusion Wave-Motion. I pay 1000 Life Points and my level-seven spellcaster gets to attack every monster on your side of the field during this turn. If my math is right—and Bryan knows it is—this duel is over."

"Go through the steps," Shane insisted. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to lose just like that. He needed to _see_ the math.

"Okay," Matt agreed. "First Dark Magician (2000) attacks Bugroth (1700). That's 300 points plus 1300 because Ebon Arrow also inflicts effect damage to you equal to your monster's defense points. Next Dark Magician (2000) attacks Mermaid Knight (1700) and deals a total of 1000 points. That's 2600 so far. Attacking an Ojama Token (1000) causes 1000 points of piercing damage and 1000 points of defense point-effect damage, plus 300 extra points because that's what happens when an Ojama Token is destroyed. That's 2300 each for three Tokens." Matt 2900 – 1000 = 1900: Shane 8000 – 300 – 1300 – 300 – 700 – 1000 – 1000 – 300 – 1000 – 1000 – 300 – 1000 – 1000 – 300 = 0.

Matt looked at the computer screen. "Good. The computer's internal calculator is properly primed. Was my math good enough?"

Shane's expression of confidence turned to one of horror and disbelief. "Are you kidding me? How did a freshman beat me like that?"

"It's because you held off on your Daedalus strategy," Jeri commented. "You should have ignored the direct attack strategy and just worked on getting rid of the Dark Magician." Shane had other potential combos in his hand, but those combos conflicted with the strategy he was using against his opponent. While Shane went over his cards again and ignored Matt's offer of a handshake, Matt gave a few words of confidence to the spectators and rejoined Bryan and Cary.

"That's the game," Bryan shouted. "Too bad, so sad. I wonder how the rest of the Yellow Dorm would react if they knew you were already beaten by a brand new Red Dorm freshman."

Shane gritted his teeth, but kept his cool.

"Nice duel, grunt. I almost had you, but I'm impressed. Looks like they finally found someone with some skill."

"Doesn't say much for you, does it?" Matt said.

"Let's go," Jeri said. "We'd better get inside soon or we'll get in trouble, anyway."

Cary looked at her watch and said they should probably also get going. The three made it back to the Red Dorm in plenty of time to beat the midnight curfew, but not early enough to visit contrasex floors, so Cary went off to her room while Matt and Bryan headed to the third floor.

Matt grinned himself to sleep that night, knowing he already beat a high-ranked duelist with relative ease.


	3. Guardian Duelers

Chapter 3: Guardian Duelers

"Why would your cousin want to meet me?" Matt asked Cary.

"You're an incredibly lucky duelist using an incredibly mediocre Dark Magician deck who has already beaten an incredibly skilled lockdown duelist. Someone with his talent will likely be fascinated by someone with your luck. You don't fit the profile of a winning duelist."

"I thought the profile of a winning duelist was a duelist who keeps winning," Bryan suggested. He and Matt shrugged mockingly. "Maybe I'm thinking of something else. When's he supposed to be here? I'm eager to meet this guy who's ranked number one in the school."

"Dave told me he'd be here in time for lunch," Cary answered. "Why he'd want to eat at the low quality Red Dorm instead of the fancy Blue Mansion place is beyond me."

"Sounds like he wanted it to be convenient for us, and we eat free here," Matt offered.

"I'd rather pay something to eat high quality food," Cary replied.

"Food is food," Bryan said. "I'm more interested in this special dorm he gets to live in. I want to know everything about the top duelists. One day that'll be me."

"Who knows?" a fourth voice said. "You could be right."

"Dave!" Cary squealed and jumped up from the table. She wrapped her arms around a guy who was built like a computer nerd. He was tall, thin, and had this look of purity in his eyes. He looked like a guy who was still just a big kid. It was David Strickland, a senior with a lot more dueling talent than anyone would guess just by looking at him. He wore a black blazer with blue trim. He didn't look big until you looked into his eyes and saw the confidence and power he hid from plain sight. "It's so good to see you! You didn't come visit this past summer!"

"I had some things to keep me busy," he replied. "But I'm glad to see you, too. And these must be the annoying, jockish, lucky freshmen you told me about."

"That's us," Bryan agreed. "You must be the one they call Forbidden Dave."

Dave laughed and shook his hand. "Call me Dave."

"I'm Bryan, co-King of Games of the freshman class. So tell me, big man, what's so special about you that you get a black blazer and get to live in a selective dorm that no one knows the location."

Dave smiled and sat down, but he didn't start to answer right away.

"You're not the only one," Matt said. "I counted five other people with black blazers since I got here, including Andy, that guy who proctored my entrance exam. And two of them were females, so whatever it is, the school doesn't care that your house is co-ed."

"I guess I can tell you," Dave said. You'll find out anyway. The six top duelists of the school are put in a group called the Guardian Duelers. We get this position only by defeating the previous members. At the end of each school year, the graduating members must pass on membership to a new duelist, in which case the strongest remaining duelist gets the spot."

"What's the big secret?" Bryan asked. "There's got to be more to it than that."

"Quite right," Dave said. "In addition, we get immunity from having to reapply to attend next year."

"We have to reapply?" Matt asked, suddenly nervous.

Cary scoffed. "It's basically like academic review. If you do well enough in classes and manage to win a lot of duels, you'll be fine. They only kick out slackers, and there's always a few dropouts."

"Immunity from scrutiny is nice, though," Matt insisted.

"The downside is we are ineligible for prizes each semester," Dave added. "Which is more valuable is subjective. Some people would just as willing to trade prizes for the immunity. But along with our immunity, we get to keep our rare cards through the summer session."

"What rare cards? Like out-of-print cards?" Bryan asked.

"Rarer than that." Dave reached into his belt and retrieved his deck, pulling out a specific card. "Ownership of one of these cards is the same as membership to the Guardian Duelers. You've heard of the Egyptian God Cards?" Dave asked.

"You've got to be kidding me," Bryan said. "You've got control over one of the most powerful cards in the entire friggin' game?"

"Yes," Dave said. He pulled out his deck and showed the trio his shiny red card. He handed it to Matt first because he was closer. Surprisingly, the card's red background began to shimmer dimly as he held it. Dave noticed but didn't say anything about it.

"Slifer the Sky Dragon," Matt read. "I know this card is supposed to be special, but remind me what the big deal is. And not the effect; I can read that on the card, so I already know it's potentially really powerful."

Cary quickly responded to his request. "The story goes that Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba fought over the god cards constantly because of their power. There's also a rumor that they tap into dark magic and can be harmful to anyone who loses a duel to one."

"Sounds pretty spooky when you leave out the part where _they're playing cards_," Bryan commented mockingly.

Dave chuckled. "Yes, well, someone was still enough afraid of them to seal them in Egypt. Unfortunately, tomb robbers found them and used them for criminal gain in the world of dueling. Cheating, et cetera. Seto Kaiba was the one who found them and collected them once again… yet another of his returns to dueling. After he collected the god cards again, he retired from dueling for the last time. He sent the cards to this campus because we're technically a subdivision of Kaiba Corp., it's a good way to teach talented young duelists about the strongest cards in history, and Seto Kaiba knew the cards would be well protected when given to the strongest duelists."

Matt nodded and looked around. "So there are six Egyptian God Cards then?"

"No," Cary answered. "There are three: the one Dave has, the one Andy has, and one more. The other three people have the Sacred Beasts. They were an attempt to remake the Egyptian God Cards for common play, but somehow they started to tap into the same darkness."

"More urban legend," Bryan insisted. "I totally want to join."

"You won't likely be able to. No freshman has ever gained membership. Before you even get to duel one of us, you have to be screened. Not like a drug test or personality test or anything, but the cards only respond to certain people. If you can't make the card shine, you can't use it."

Kasumi asked, "What does that mean? What does it take to make one of those cards shine?"

"Nothing special. You just have to hold it and see if it shines. Other than that, there's nothing you can or can't do about it."

Bryan made a face and said, "That sounds ridiculous. How does a card shine without a flashlight or a fire?"

"That's exactly why everyone believes that they're magic," Dave said. "And no offense; I'm sure you're talented, especially since I heard you and Matt both received the highest scores on the practical exams. But the Guardian Duelers are all very strong, and you'd have to have a plan to beat the god cards in the event your opponent summons one. Believe me, that's no easy task."

"You did it," Matt pointed out.

"I didn't say it was impossible," Dave argued. "I just said it was hard. If you really want to go through with it, you're going to have to do your homework."

"Should be easy enough," Bryan said. "I've been doing my homework for four years already. Got a 4.0 in high school. I think I'm good to go."

"I get the feeling we'll find out eventually," Dave commented. "How about we eat for now?"

After lunch, Cary went with Dave to meet Dr. Kerr. With Dave's personal recommendation, she thought she could take an exam to test out of Freshman Fusions. That way she could get "credit by examination" rather than taking the full class.

Meanwhile, Bryan and Matt retired to relax in the dayroom of the Red Dorm's first floor. The room consisted of a pool table and a ping pong table, plus a big TV and a lot of couches. Already in the room were three girls watching TV and two guys playing pool. Matt was tempted to shoot some pool, but Bryan reminded him that girls were more important that geometry.

"Hi," one of them said, just being friendly. This girl was the smallest of the group. She was black, though her skin was still light enough to see the freckles on her nose. She had blue eyes, which made her look even prettier by sheer contrast, and the body of a tennis player. Bryan noticed how defined her legs were and just assumed tennis from the skirt she wore.

Bryan nodded in a short bow and said, "Hi. How are you ladies today?"

"Doing well so far," another said. He couldn't help but notice how attractive this Japanese girl with the auburn hair was. This girl was about Matt's height, slightly bigger than Cary, including the weight in her chest, one of Bryan's favorite features in a developing girl. "How are you?"

"Excellent," Bryan said as he slid into a chair nearby with a good view of the girls. "I just found out that we're going to be two of the top six duelists at the Academy."

"Oh, really?" she asked. "How's that?"

"We're going to take a few of the god cards," Bryan answered. "My name is Bryan, this is Matt. Soon enough, our names will be as big as Yugi and Seto."

"Uh huh," replied the third girl sarcastically. She was the biggest of the group, only a hair taller than Matt but a bit heavyset. She had blonde hair and brown eyes, an amazing complexion, and a smile that rarely left her face, despite her slightly sarcastic nature.

"Forgive my friend's impatience," Matt said. "He's a bit overzealous with his dueling career."

"It's okay," the girl replied. "I'm Kasumi. This is Lakisha and Jess. What kind of decks do you guys use?"

"Warriors," Bryan said. "Just like we are."

"Right," Lakisha grinned. "Warriors are going to take you to the top of the school?"

"You got it," he replied. "Why, what do you use?"

"You're the one with the Red-Eyes deck," Matt said, pointing to Kasumi. "I remember seeing your entrance duel. I was impressed."

"I certainly remember yours," Kasumi said.

"Yeah, you were the guy who won in one turn," Jess said. "The Dark Magician-only combo."

"That's right," Bryan said and scooted toward the edge of the couch to get closer to the girls. "And I'm his best friend, so you know I'm just as talented as he is."

"Really?" Kasumi replied coyly. "I'd be interested in seeing that sometime."

As Bryan continued to flirt with all three girls at once, one of the guys playing pool slowed his own game and found himself glaring at Bryan. His pool game was steadily declining since Bryan sat down and started talking to his girlfriend. A little insecure about his fairly new relationship with a friend from home, this pool player was upset about a good-looking guy like Bryan flirting with his girlfriend.

"Your move, Thomas," his friend Nick said. When he realized Thomas was past the point of paying attention to the pool game, he asked, "There a problem?" When Thomas still didn't respond, he waved his hand in front of Thomas's eyes. Thomas was a very jealous guy. He was relatively attractive for a skinny guy who avoids shaving like Samson, but he was very self-conscious about his appearance, especially when around someone with the model qualities Bryan had.

"What?" Thomas said. "Is it my turn?"

Nick laughed. "Look, if that guy is bugging you, go make him stop flirting with Kasumi. Just don't be stupid and try to fight with him. I mean look at the size of him."

"Fine," Thomas said. "Maybe a duel will shut him up."

Back at the couch, Bryan said, "So I'm going to wait until after the placement exams to talk to Headmaster West, and—"

"'Scuse me," Thomas said as he poked Bryan on the shoulder hard.

Bryan looked first at Thomas's fingers, then moved his gaze up to Thomas's face. It wasn't often someone who weighed 120 pounds had the guts to push his 250 pounds like that.

"Hey, Thomas," Kasumi said as she reached back and put her hand on Thomas's arm, completely oblivious to Thomas's jealousy. "You done with your game?"

"We can't seem to finish," Nick answered. Nick was very short, but he was much more level-headed than Thomas, taken figuratively, of course. Despite being Thomas's best friend, Nick was wise enough to know when Thomas was to blame for the situations he got himself into.

"I just wanted to come meet your new friend," Thomas said.

"Uh, oh," Matt whispered. "Danger, Will Robinson."

Bryan laughed and extended his hand to Thomas. "Name's Bryan. How are you?"

"Kasumi's boyfriend," he replied.

"Told ya," Matt whispered again.

"Yeah," Bryan agreed. He could tell with a single look at Thomas's expression, despite the fact that Thomas didn't answer the question Bryan actually asked.

Thomas cleared his throat and tried to deepen his voice when he extended his challenge. The way he did it was to take his Duel Disk off the chair and activate it, then he loaded his deck.

"You want to duel?" Bryan confirmed.

"That's right," Thomas said. "Unless you're afraid of losing in front of the girls."

"Are you kidding?" Lakisha laughed at Bryan. "You just challenged the next King of Games."

"_Co_-King of Games," Matt corrected.

"Everyone thinks that when they first get here," Thomas said. "So I guess I'll be doing you a favor if I go ahead and squash your dreams early. I'll beat you now and show you right off that you're not the best around here."

"That sounds like a dare," Bryan said. "It's go time." He grabbed his deck and looked at Thomas's Duel Disk—a dueling prosthesis with two wings that put together five plates used like a portable dueling field. Two small holograph generators created holographic illusions of the duel cards during game play. In general the portable holographs were of lower quality than inside the hologram boxes at the electronic duel terminals, but the portable feature made Duel Disks very popular accessories.

"Sorry, dude, but I don't have a Duel Disk yet."

Thomas laughed harshly. "You're a student at Duel Academy who wants to be the King of Games and you don't have a Duel Disk?"

"Yugi didn't own a Duel Disk when he became King of Games," Jess pointed out. "Duelist Kingdom happened before Duel Disks were invented."

"Yeah," Bryan agreed. He shot Jess a smile and added, "Thanks." He looked back at Thomas and said, "If you want to duel, let's just use the table here. Or we can go find an electronic duel station."

"That's crap," Thomas insisted. "You should have a Duel Disk."

"I don't have a Duel Disk," Lakisha commented. Jess and Matt both admitted they didn't have one, either. Kasumi smiled proudly that she had one.

"Fine. Old-fashioned dueling," Thomas finally agreed. "But I go first."

"Okay by me." Bryan handed Thomas his deck to shuffle, and Thomas grudgingly let Bryan shuffle his.

"I'll play Reinforcement of the Army to find Armed Samurai – Ben Kei and put him in my hand. I'll place a monster in defense mode and set a card."

"Fair start," Bryan admitted. "I will also search my deck, but with the card E – Emergency Call. I'll move Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300) to my hand. Then I'll summon him to the field and use his effect to put Elemental Hero Avian from my deck to my hand. Now I'll attack your monster."

"My monster was Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu (2/500/500). He's destroyed, but attacking him activates his flip effect; I get an Equip Spell from my deck to my hand. I pick Big Bang Shot."

"I remember that card," Bryan replied. "I'll set a card and end my turn."

Thomas drew and grinned wickedly. "Here we go. I'll play Big Bang Shot and equip it to your Stratos (18002200). But I'll also play Giant Trunade, a card that sends all spells and traps back to our hands. When Big Bang Shot leaves the field, the monster to which it was equipped gets removed from play."

"Leaving me with a wide open field," Bryan noted.

"Exactly. Now I'll summon Armed Samurai – Ben Kei (4/500/800) and equip him with Big Bang Shot and Axe of Despair. The former gives him 400 points and the latter gives him 1000. Now Ben Kei's (1900) effect activates. For each Equip Spell he has on him, he gets an additional attack. That means three direct attacks on you right now."

"Lucky me," Bryan commented. "My turn now?"

"Almost. I'll set a card, and _now_ it's your turn." Bryan 8000 – 1900 – 1900 – 1900 = 2300: Thomas 8000.

Bryan drew. "To quote you… 'here we go.' I'll play Polymerization to fuse Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Wildheart in my hand to fusion summon Elemental Hero Wild Wingman (8/1900/2300). Now I'll activate a special ability: When I discard a card from my hand, Wild Wingman automatically destroys a spell or trap on your side of the field… like Big Bang Shot." Bryan grinned. "Remember what you just did to Stratos?"

"Yes. Now you removed Ben Kei from play."

"Indeed. Now Wild Wingman (1900) can attack directly. But let's not stop there. I'll play De-Fusion to split my monster back into Avian (3/1000/1000) and Wildheart (4/1500/1600)… and it's still my battle phase. That means both my monsters can attack again. Then I'll set two cards and that ends my turn." Bryan 2300: Thomas 8000 – 1900 – 1000 – 1500 = 3600.

Thomas growled slightly when he drew his next card. "I wasn't expecting you to kill Ben Kei so quickly."

"All of my opponents so far have underestimated me," Bryan replied.

Thomas forced a chuckle and set a monster on the field. "I knew I should have stalled just a little longer and waited for the one-turn-kill." He set another card and ended his turn.

"Tough break," Bryan said. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (4/1600/1400)." He looked over his hand and thought about that smile he just saw Thomas conceal. "I'll send Wildheart (1500) to attack your monster because you seem awfully eager to activate that card you just set—Wildheart is immune to the effects of trap cards."

"I know," Thomas retorted and flipped his card. "When Sangan (3/1000/600) goes to the Graveyard, I get to move a monster with 1500 or fewer attack points to my hand. I choose Armed Samurai – Ben Kei."

"I expected as much," Bryan said. He paused and stared at Thomas's facedown card for a moment. "I'll go ahead and attack with Avian (1000)."

Thomas laughed and said, "Hah! My card is Magic Cylinder! It negates your attack and deals your monster's attack points to you as damage!"

"I should have seen that coming," Bryan said. "I'll chain my Elemental Recharge so I gain 1000 Life Points per Elemental Hero on my field. That will help me survive. Sparkman (1600) still gets to attack, then I'll set a card and end my turn." Bryan 2300 + 1000 * 3 – 1000 = 4300: Thomas 3600 – 1600 = 2000.

"You got lucky," Thomas said when he drew. "I'll summon Armed Samurai – Ben Kei (4/500/800) to the field again. I'll equip him with United We Stand to increase his points by 800 and activate my facedown Blast with Chain—it gives him another 500 points and becomes an Equip Spell. Now Ben Kei (1800) will attack Avian (1000). Then he'll attack Wildheart (1500), and then Sparkman (1600). I'll also set a card." Bryan 4300 – 800 – 300 – 200 = 3000: Thomas 2000.

Bryan looked confused. "What? That's it? I thought you were going to do something worse than that." He drew and smiled. "I'm ready to destroy Ben Kei again."

"Good luck," Thomas muttered.

"Thank you. First I'll summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (3/1200/800). Then I'll play Fusion Recovery to return Polymerization and a fusion-material monster from my Graveyard to my hand. Wildheart was sent to the Graveyard through fusion earlier, and so now I'll bring him back to my hand. Then I'll activate my Polymerization to fuse Wildheart with Bladedge to summon Elemental Hero Wildedge (8/2600/2300). He's strong enough to destroy Ben Kei (1800)."

"Not for long," Thomas argued. "I'll play Scapegoat, a quick-play spell that summons four Sheep Tokens (1/0/0) to my field. United We Stand gives Ben Kei (5000) 800 extra points _per_ monster on my field. That's a 4000-point boost from that one card."

Yet Bryan didn't even bat an eye. "Well, Wildedge (2600) can attack all monsters on the field, so I'm still not worried. By changing the number of monsters on the field, you triggered a replay—that means I get to choose my attack target again. I think I'll start with a Sheep Token (0), and then another, and another, and another. _Now_ Wildedge (2600) will also attack Ben Kei (1800) again."

"No way," Thomas uttered. "How'd you beat me?"

Bryan shrugged. "Hey, it was much closer than I thought it would be. Burstinatrix (1200) will hit you for the closer." Bryan 1100: Thomas 2000 – 800 – 1200 = 0.

"And that's the game," Matt said.

"That was an impressive duel," Bryan told Thomas. "Too bad you take yourself too seriously to be any good."

"Shut up!" Thomas shouted. Unable to control himself, he swung at Bryan and connected directly with his chest. When he looked up, the statuesque Bryan was unmoved, and Thomas's hand was throbbing intensely.

"Thomas!" Kasumi screamed. "What is the matter with you?"

Bryan laughed as Kasumi dragged Thomas out of the room by his ears, clearly upset with how he handled his jealousy. Nick commented that he warned Thomas not to try anything physical.

"That may be the dumbest guy I've ever met," Bryan commented.

"Definitely insecure," Matt agreed. "Kasumi was pretty disappointed in him. I'll bet you they break up before the first grading period is over."

"I'd take that," Bryan said, "but I hate to lose a bet."

Lakisha and Jess both scoffed and assured the guys that Thomas wasn't that bad, but they secretly agreed that a breakup was likely if Thomas was going to get jealous every time another guy hit on his hot girlfriend.

"On a brighter note," Matt said, "it looks like the two of us will have very little trouble proving our skills during the placement exams."

"That's right," Bryan grinned and clapped hands with Matt. "We are totally going to clean up. Then we can each take one of those god cards to prove we're the best."

"Sounds like a plan."


	4. Exam Preparation

Chapter 4: Exam Preparation

"I really thought these classes would be harder," Matt said as he closed his notebook. "I think I'm more than ready for the placement exam."

"You ought to be," Bryan replied. "We aced the entrance exam. And it's not like we've been slacking off these past few weeks. When we're not watching the area duels, accruing our own victories, or flirting with some other guy's girlfriend, we're studying."

"Sometimes studying _during_ the aforementioned events," Matt added. "But according to the website, there isn't an area duel today. I guess we'll have to find some other way to spend the afternoon."

"Did you have something in mind?"

"Yeah, actually. I was thinking about dropping in on the Guardian Duelers and hang out for a while."

"Ooo. I like that idea. Then we can try to find out something about their decks."

Matt shook his head and laughed. "You are _obsessed_ with becoming a Guardian Dueler," he laughed. "What will you do if Dr. West won't let you?"

"I hadn't really thought of that," he replied. "I guess I just kinda figured that if he wants the strongest duelists to guard the god cards, and we score the highest on the placement exams, he'd be willing to give us a shot. I mean, it makes sense."

"Good point. And he seems like a smart guy, so maybe he'll agree."

"I'm sure he will," Bryan said. "Now let's go meet those Guardians."

About thirty minutes later, Matt and Bryan were across the island at the house that was hidden by the trees that surrounded the island. It was not as much a secret where they lived as Matt originally thought, but it was among the lesser-known information the students had. Matt only knew because he got the information from Dave.

"Not a bad place," Bryan said. The house was two stories, plus a basement. The first floor had a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and two bedrooms; the second floor had four bedrooms. It was easily big enough for six people.

"Let's see who's home," Matt said as he knocked on the front door.

The front door opened and revealed a girl with an amazing, petite figure, silky black hair, enchanting brown eyes, and a guy very much resembling Bryan attached to her hand the second she walked through the door.

"Hello there," he said seductively. "I am so happy I found you again. Your beauty captivated me from the moment light touched your skin, and I knew I must meet you."

The girl tried to back away from the hand Bryan was holding like it was radioactive. Then she burst out laughing, and it was all she could do not to keel over in the foyer. She was joined presently by an average-sized man of Japanese descent; Matt recognized him as Andy Matsuura, the duel proctor. He gave a short, confused wave when he saw Matt, then he asked his roommate what happened.

"I'm okay," she said. "I'm sorry. I've been hit on before, but that was new."

"I've got more," Bryan offered playfully. "Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again? How'd you get through security, 'cause you're the bomb."

The girl continued laughing, which was exactly Bryan's plan. In a more public setting, Erica Dawkins would most certainly have been disgusted and slapped Bryan, but given the laughter Matt couldn't contain, she interpreted Bryan as relatively harmless and allowed him to continue making a fool of himself.

"What are you guys doing here?" Andy asked.

"We just wanted to drop by and visit Dave," Matt answered. He wiped away the tears of laughter he fought with and said, "That was a new record, bro. I've never seen you move so quickly."

"I've never seen that, either," Erica agreed.

Andy motioned and said, "This is Erica, one of my roommates."

"You are a lucky dog to share a roof with such an angelic being," Bryan assured him.

"Rules apply to everyone," Andy assured him. "But we're trusted with the god cards. It seemed fitting that our intelligence gets respected, too. This way all the Guardians stay together. Come in. Hang out a bit. Yul is in class right now and Dave's at work, but you can meet Justin and Lucy."

"Thank you kindly," Bryan said as he stepped inside. "My name is Bryan. My buddy Matt and I are future co-King of Games." He bowed lightly, holding Erica's hand just in front of his face. "So nice to meet you, Erica."

She smiled beautifully and said, "Color me charmed."

The living room was directly beside the foyer to the left of the front door; Justin's room was to the right. There was a hallway that connected to the dining room—also reachable through the living room—with Dave's room connected to that. The kitchen was on the back end of the house.

"Who was it?" asked the young lady Matt assumed was Lucy using his powers of observation and deduction. She was facing the TV in the opposite corner, but she noticed the presence of extra bodies even before they spoke.

Justin sat up from his lounging position on the couch. "I remember you," he said to Matt. "You were the guy who beat Andy in about a turn and a half during the freshman application duels." Justin Nussbaum was another of the duel proctors that day, as was Dave. He was the very image of a nerdy duelist. He was a few inches taller than Matt, was very skinny, wore glasses, and had a slightly crooked smile. Justin was another senior at the Academy. He, Andy, and Dave started at the same time, rooming in the same Red Dorm suite during their freshman year, and were good friends ever since.

"That's right," Matt said with a grin.

"Oh, so you're the new kid everyone's talking about," Lucy said. "I hear you're the only freshman who ever won so quickly."

Erica pointed to Lucy Mercer and said, "This is Lucy, our only sophomore resident." As far as great bodies went, Lucy was as stacked as it could get. She was five-foot-five, 125 pounds, almost perfectly hourglass-shaped, but she looked—let's say "top heavy." She even looked like she spent a good deal of time working out, and it was clear where she stored water during the summer, but Matt was smart enough not to say any of that out loud.

"Wow. You beat a god card with only a year of study?" Bryan asked, admiring Lucy but still holding Erica's hand.

Erica, Lucy, and Andy all looked at one another with a bit of shock.

"You already know about us?"

"Dave told us a little bit," Matt admitted. "Showed us his card. Slifer the Sky Dragon."

"He actually showed it to you?" Lucy asked. "I don't know how I feel about showing Obelisk card to a stranger."

"Which one's Obelisk?" Matt asked Bryan quietly.

"Egyptian," Bryan replied curtly.

Justin looked confused. "You don't know the difference between the god cards?"

"I'm so new at dueling, I never heard of the god cards before Dave mentioned them," Matt told him. "I understand they're pretty darn powerful."

"That's an understatement," Lucy told him. "They're nearly unbeatable."

Andy smiled and said, "Don't be like that. Each of us beat them. Not everyone can do it, but I think everyone in this group actually earned the god cards instead of inheriting them from a graduating senior."

"I'll get one eventually," Bryan said. He returned his gaze to Erica. "I'm really just interested to see what card _you_ have right now."

She and Bryan sat down on one of the couches with Andy, and out of flattery she allowed Bryan to keep holding her hand. She was certainly the kind of girl who gets plenty of attention from all kinds of guys, but she found Bryan sort of charming the way he fawned over her; it was just enough to be flattering without being overwhelming, and Bryan wasn't afraid to make a joke out of his behavior.

Erica agreed to show her Sacred Beast to the visitors. Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder was the Sacred Beast form of Andy's Winged Dragon of Ra, which they also got to see. Bryan pretended to be fascinated by it, but he was really only staring at Erica the whole time. Matt noted Hamon's effect and started asking about all the god cards' effects.

"Feel free to sit," Lucy offered to Matt. She watched Matt as he sat down next to her on the love seat. She was very self-conscious of her own body and that often kept her away from guys, but she couldn't help noticing Matt's figure, too. "So what brings you guys out here?"

"We thought we'd come hang out with Dave for a little while," Matt answered. "We kinda wanted to talk to him about becoming Guardians."

"Really?" Justin asked. "You know no freshman has ever been a Guardian, right? Even the unstoppable Dave didn't get Slifer until after his first year."

"We hope to break that record," Bryan commented. He smiled at Erica and said, "But even if I don't get to guard a god card, I'm still tempted to move in, or at least hang out a lot."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Erica laughed.

After the group spent another hour sitting and talking, Justin had an idea. Despite the fact that it was normally against regulations for anyone other than the Guardian Duelers to use the Duel Computer Interface, he thought it might be fun to let one of the freshmen have a shot at it.

"I would love to!" Bryan nearly shouted. "That way I can show off." That was the first time since entering the house that he broke contact with Erica.

"I'd kinda like to see Matt duel," Lucy said and looked back at him.

Matt smiled and blushed, but said, "I'll let you know when my placement practical is. For now, let Bryan have a go at it. He's even more of a showoff than I am."

"Let's go," Erica said, putting her arm in Bryan's to lead him to the basement. That was where the Duel Computer Interface was set up. Laundry machines sat off in the closet of the room. The Duel Computer Interface itself looked like a regular duel terminal on one side, with a place for a duelist to sit and place his or her cards, but the other side looked like the back of a pinball machine: lots of lights and monitors.

"This is awesome," Bryan said as he looked over the computer. "I saw one of these at Kaiba Land one time, but I never thought I'd see a private one. These things are expensive."

"Well, since Kaiba Corp. designs them and supports the Academy," Erica pointed out, "we get one for free. This is the Duel Computer Interface, or the DCI, as we call it. The faculty also has one, but most students are forbidden to use them. Only with faculty permission or membership as a Guardian Dueler."

"You guys get all the good stuff," Bryan noted. "I can't wait to join."

Erica laughed. "One step at a time, big guy. No freshman has ever become a member of the Guardian Duelers."

"Rules are made to be broken," Bryan said. "Now how do we turn this on?"

Erica activated the machine and used the control pad to program Bryan's opponent to Level Four. The DCI chose a random deck to play for this duel. Bryan placed his deck in the machine and the Life Point counters started up with 8000 points each. Bryan got the first turn in random selection.

"Here we go. I'll use E – Emergency Call to move Elemental Hero Stratos to my hand. Then I'll summon Stratos (4/1800/300) to the field. Now when I do that, I get to take another Elemental Hero from my deck and put it in my hand; I pick Elemental Hero Ocean. Now I'll set a card and end my turn." Bryan 8000: DCI 8000.

"Draw Phase," the DCI spoke, catching Bryan off guard. "Standby Phase. Main Phase I: set one monster and one spell/trap card. End Phase."

"That's it?" Bryan asked. "Okay then. I'll summon Elemental Hero Ocean (4/1500/1200) and lead off the attack with Stratos (1800)."

"Activate flip effect: Morphing Jar #2 (3/800/700)," the DCI announced. "Flip effect resolves; shuffle your monsters back into your deck and pick up cards from the deck until you find two level-four monsters to reset on the field."

Erica informed Bryan, "It's pretty particular. The DCI shows you the monster's full effect on that monitor there, but it only ever tells you out loud what _you_ need to do."

"That's cool," Bryan said. He put Stratos and Ocean back into his deck and watched the DCI shuffle the deck for him. Then Bryan proceeded to pick up cards in search of low-level monsters. The first card was Elemental Hero Sparkman (4/1600/1400), immediately set in defense mode. Then Bryan had to discard three spells, a trap, and a high-level monster before he found Elemental Hero Woodsman (4/1000/2000), also set in defense mode.

"Good move," Bryan said. "Your turn."

"Draw Phase. Standby Phase. Main Phase I: set one monster and one spell/trap card. End Phase."

"Alright. I'll play Monster Reborn to summon Elemental Hero Bladedge (7/2600/1800) from my Graveyard. I'll also flip summon Woodsman (1000) and Sparkman (1600). I'll attack your monster with Bladedge (2600) because he deals piercing damage to you."

"Activate flip effect: Needle Worm (2/750/600). You discard five cards from the top of your deck to the Graveyard."

Bryan already noticed the DCI's strategy; his deck was thinning at a significantly faster rate than was the computer's.

"I'll just have to end the duel before you take away all my cards, then," he said. "Woodsman (1000) and Sparkman (1600) will both attack directly and then I'll end my turn." Bryan 8000: DCI 8000 – 2000 – 1000 – 1600 = 3400.

"Draw Phase. Standby Phase. Main Phase I: activate Shallow Grave; set Needle Worm (600) on the field. You set a monster from your Graveyard."

"I know that card," Bryan said. "I'll set Elemental Hero Ocean."

"Activate Inferno Reckless Summon: summon two more Needle Worms (750) from the deck in attack mode. You select one monster and summon all cards in your deck with the same name."

"Really?" Bryan asked. "Well, Sparkman (1600) is the only one I have a duplicate of, so I'll summon another one of him."

"Activate Book of Taiyou: Needle Worm (750) flips face-up. Activate flip effect: Needle Worm; you discard five cards fro the top of your deck to the Graveyard. Set one spell/trap card. End Phase."

"Here we go," Bryan said excitedly at his new card. "First I'll use Woodsman's effect during my Standby Phase to take Polymerization from my Graveyard and put it in my hand. I'll go ahead and use Polymerization to fuse Sparkman with Bladedge and summon Elemental Hero Plasma Vice (8/2600/2300)."

"Activate Book of Eclipse: all face-up monsters on the field are set in facedown defense position."

"Ooo," Bryan uttered. "That's tough. I guess I'm done then for now. Your turn."

"Activate Book of Eclipse: flip your monsters face-up and draw one card per monster." Bryan did so, but his turn was done. It was the computer's turn.

"You might lose this turn," Erica commented. "You're about to lose fifteen more cards from your deck. You're not going to let the DCI deck you out, are you?"

"No way," Bryan argued.

"Draw Phase. Standby Phase. Main Phase I: flip Needle Worm (2/750/600) face-up. Activate flip effect: Needle Worm; You discard five cards from the top of your deck to the Graveyard."

When the DCI repeated the flip effect for teach of its two other Needle Worms, Bryan commented, "Man. Doesn't that voice ever drive you nuts?"

"All the time," Erica agreed. "That's why I'd prefer an interpersonal duel. The DCI is good for practice, but it's so much more fun to talk to _people_ during a duel."

"Set one spell/trap card. Set one spell/trap card. End Phase."

Bryan rubbed his head. "Is it too difficult to say, 'set two cards'?" Erica giggled and Bryan continued his turn.

"Two facedown cards, huh? Let's see if I can build enough of an assault to beat you here and now. I'll use Woodsman's effect to take back a Polymerization and Ocean's effect to get back Stratos. I'll play Polymerization to fuse Ocean with Woodsman into Elemental Hero Terra Firma (8/2500/2000). Now I can summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300) again, but this time I'll use his other effect. Instead of searching out a hero from my deck, I have the option of destroying a number of spells and traps on your field equal to the number of Elemental Heroes on my field. I have three that aren't Stratos. That means I can destroy all of your facedown cards."

"Activate Desert Sunlight: all face-up monsters on this field switch to face-up defense mode."

"Three defense monsters?" Bryan asked. "Really? That's the best you could do? What were your other cards? Bluffs?"

Erica played with the control pad to check the DCI's card Graveyard. "Not bluffs. Well, Mystical Space Typhoon is, but Mirror Force would have been terrible if you tried to attack."

"Cool," Bryan accepted. "I'll attack your monsters with Stratos (1800), Sparkman (1600), and Plasma Vice (2600)—remember _he_ does piercing damage. Then a direct attack from Terra Firma (2500) will end the duel." Bryan 8000: DCI 3400 – 2000 – 2500 = 0.

The DCI congratulated Bryan on his victory, then shut down.

"That was pretty lucky on your part," Justin told Bryan after they gave everyone else the summary of the duel. "You would have lost if you had a regular deck size of forty cards.

"Is it really uncommon for people to have more than forty cards in their decks?"

"Pretty uncommon here. Forty-one to forty-five are not too uncommon, but most people play the probability game: If you have fewer total cards, your chances of drawing a specific card in a given turn are increased."

Bryan nodded. "That's good thinking there. It's just tough to narrow down the Elemental Heroes that much."

"You're good enough for now," Matt told him. "We'll keep learning and getting better as we go. But just think of it this way: If this level of play is your baseline, how good are you going to be when you've actually had a few classes?"


	5. Freshman Placement Exams

Chapter 5: Freshman Placement Exams

"You will each have thirty minutes to finish the fusion portion of the exam," Pr. Baker said. "In this section, you will be given a fusion formula, and you must determine the correct result. If you don't know the answer, skip it and come back to it at the end. You may begin now."

Matt was rather disappointed to discover the questions were multiple choice. But then again, the tests were graded using a Scantron machine and they were only at the freshman level. That only made the exam that much easier, even for someone fairly new to the game.

"Flame Manipulator + Masaki the Legendary Swordsman = ?" he read to himself. "_A. Flame Swordsman_; B. Cherubim the Fire Knight; C. Darkfire Warrior #1. Even _I_ know that one."

Bryan was equally disappointed with the questions.

"Elemental Hero Clayman + Elemental Hero Sparkman = ? A. Elemental Hero Flame Wingman; B. UFOroid Fighter;_ C. Elemental Hero Thunder Giant_. I'd have to be mentally incapable of taking a Scantron test to miss this one."

As a whole, the test was intended to create a fairly normal distribution of scores; put simply, the tests were designed to have some high scorers and some low scorers, hence the questions covered a wide range of card effects and game play rules. The general knowledge questions were more challenging, but not for either of the co-Kings of Games. They continued to find the questions too easy because although they were technically free answer, the questions almost made them multiple-choice.

Matt read to himself, "If you activate Smashing Ground, your opponent chains Imperial Order, then you chain _Mystical Space Typhoon_, which effect activates first?"

Bryan's middle question for the section read, "You have two cards in your hand after you summon Muka Muka. Your opponent activates Trap Hole. What happens first?" Bryan knew that Muka Muka gains 300 AP per card in the hand and Trap Hole destroys any summoned monster with 1000 AP or more; as a result, Muka Muka's attack rises first, and then Trap Hole destroys it.

The final question of the exam was the same for everyone, and it was a brain teaser. This was the item that was truly intended to differentiate the high-scorers from the low scorers; it was a challenge even some upperclassmen had difficulty solving. The question set up a situation, and the student was required to determine the way to win in a single turn.

Opponent's Field:  
Face-Up Defense mode Spirit Reaper  
Face-Up Defense Mode Mystical Elf with United We Stand attached

Your field:  
Face-Up Attack Mode D.D. Warrior Lady  
Face-Up Attack Mode Maha Vailo

Your Hand:  
Giant Trunade  
Big Bang Shot

Opponent's LP: 3200  
Your LP: 1

"How was it?" Lucy asked Matt when he met her for lunch the next day.

"Too easy," he admitted. "Even the brain teaser at the end was easy."

"I agree," Bryan said. "Did you come up with the same thing I did?" The issue was a defense mode Spirit Reaper (3/300/200), a monster who's effect declared it could not be destroyed in battle, and a Mystical Elf (4/800/2000 4/2400/3600) powered by United We Stand (800 attack and defense points for each monster on the field).

"I'm pretty sure I did, if indeed you got it right. There was only one way to do it in a single turn:

Play Big Bang Shot on the opponent's Mystical Elf.

Activate Giant Trunade. When Big Bang Shot is removed from the field to your hand, Mystical Elf is removed from play, so United We Stand is no longer a concern.

Equip D.D. Warrior Lady (1900) with Big Bang Shot (attack up 400 plus piercing damage).

Attack Spirit Reaper (200)—deal 1700 points of damage.

Activate D.D. Warrior Lady's effect to remove herself and Spirit Reaper from play.

Attack directly with Maha Vailo (4/1550/1500)—deal 1550 damage."

"That was exactly what I wrote," Bryan agreed. "I should thank Thomas for reminding me of Big Bang Shot's full effect during our duel."

"So much for differentiating you two," Lucy commented. "I guess they'll have to settle it with your practicals."

"I just hope we don't duel one another in the first round," Bryan considered. "How much would that suck?"

"Considerably," Matt agreed. "But they won't make us duel one another. We're roommates. I heard something about roommates not dueling one another because they already know one another's decks and it might prevent us from thinking on our feet if we resort to strategies we've used before."

"Not true with everyone, but a reasonable philosophy." Bryan looked at his watch and said, "Come to think of it, we ought to be heading over to the duel arenas."

"You guys were going to be late for your own practicals?" Lucy asked.

"Hey, it's worth it for lunch with a pretty lady," Bryan said. "Speaking of which, is Erica going to be done with class in time to see us duel?"

Lucy grinned. "She should be here pretty shortly. I'll make sure she cheers for you when she gets here so you'll know where to find her."

In order to determine an accurate placement for each duelist, they had to do three duels each, and they would be scored based on victory, skill, and mistakes. Life Points were less important because a skilled duelist can finish a duel with few Life Points against another skilled opponent. The faculty also voted on the potential they saw in each student; yes, it's incredibly subjective, but so is the college football Bowl Championship Series.

To begin the afternoon was Bryan's duel; five other duels took place simultaneously just as in the application duels. His first opponent was Thomas Estrada, looking just as upset as the last time he met Bryan but with a wrist wrap on his hand this time.

"I need to thank you for teaching me about Big Bang Shot," Bryan told him as they shuffled one another's decks at the duel terminal. "It really helped me get through the brain teaser."

"Shut up," Thomas grumbled. "Because of you, Kasumi stopped talking to me for a week. I don't care who won the last duel; this one is mine."

"Oh, yeah? But to be fair, I didn't ask you to sprain your wrist punching me."

"Let's just do this," Thomas insisted. Thomas took priority by using Rock against Bryan's Paper.

"I'll start by summoning Sunlight Unicorn (4/1800/1000) and setting one card. Then I'll use Sunlight Unicorn's ability to look at the top card in my deck." He flipped it around to show Bryan Mage Power. "It's an Equip Spell, so I get to put it in my hand. That's all."

Bryan was excited. He got to duel against someone he's dueled before. The excitement didn't come from thinking he'd have it easy based on past performance, but from thinking Thomas would be a tougher opponent now that he'd seen Bryan's cards.

"I'll play Polymerization to fuse Elemental Heroes Burstinatrix and Avian into Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (6/2100/1200). I'll send this bad boy to destroy your Unicorn (1800)." Thomas didn't activate his facedown card, and so Bryan continued. "When Flame Wingman destroys a monster in battle, he deals damage to you equal to your monster's attack points." Bryan 8000: Thomas 8000 – 300 – 1800 = 5900.

Thomas drew silently and set a single monster on the field. He placed one more card facedown and ended his turn without a word.

"What is this?" Bryan asked him. "You're trying to be quiet so I can't read your tells? Let's just see how well that works. I'll summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman (4/800/1200) to the field and put two cards facedown. I'll have Flame Wingman (2100) attack your monster."

"Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu (2/500/500) gives me an Equip card from my deck."

"And 500 points of damage for Flame Wingman's effect," Bryan added. "Then Bubbleman (800) can attack directly." Bryan 8000: Thomas 5900 – 500 – 800 = 4600.

This time when Thomas drew, he had trouble holding back a smile. "Now we're ready to go. I summon Armed Samurai – Ben Kei (4/500/800)."

"Here come the Equip cards," Bryan uttered.

"First is Axe of Despair to raise Ben Kei (1500) by 1000 points. Next is Mage Power to give him 500 points per spell/trap on my field. Finally, I'll play Shooting Star Bow – Ceal; Ben Kei (4000 3000) loses 1000 attack points, but now he can attack directly."

"Oh, crap," Bryan said. "Good thing I set my Elemental Recharge to give me another 1000 LP per Elemental Hero."

"That's why I played Royal Decree," Thomas announced proudly. "As long as this Continuous Trap stays on the field, no other trap cards can activate. That negates your Elemental Recharge and prevents you from even using your other card."

Bryan nodded approvingly at the play and admitted, "That was well planned."

"Flattery only takes you to the loser's circle," Thomas replied. "Ben Kei (3000) gets to attack four times, but three is all he needs to wipe you out."

Bryan shrugged and said, "True, but that's assuming my facedown card is a trap." He flipped it over and revealed, "Bubble Shuffle. It lets me Tribute Bubble Man to shift Ben Kei (3300) into defense mode, and I get to summon another Elemental Hero from my hand. I'll summon Bladedge (7/2600/1800), who I would have summoned earlier if I had the Tributes necessary."

Thomas was frustrated, but Bryan still had to contend with a powered-up Ben Kei. And next turn, Bryan wouldn't be able to stop his attack.

"Let's see what I can pull out here," Bryan said as he drew. "Well, look at that! It's R – Righteous Justice! With this card, I can destroy as many of your spells and traps as Heroes on my field. I'll take out Mage Power and your facedown card, just in case. Now Ben Kei (800) returns to his normal defensive power, and Bladedge (2600) does piercing damage. Add Flame Wingman (2100) for a direct attack and this duel is almost over." Bryan 8000: Thomas 4600 – 1800 – 2100 = 700.

Thomas looked over his hand and uttered, "Damn it." He set a monster and ended his turn.

"I'll just attack with Bladedge (2600)," Bryan said. Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive (4/1400/1000) let Thomas draw a card, but Bladedge's piercing damage ended the duel. Bryan 8000: Thomas 700 – 1600 = 0.

"I must say that was a better duel than our first," Bryan congratulated Thomas.

"We'll duel again," Thomas challenged.

"And I'll win then, too. But I expect you'll be an even better duelist by then."

When round three of the placement practicals came up, Matt and Bryan were each undefeated. Bryan continued to reach three wins before Matt had the opportunity to play his third duel. The entire Guardian house was in the stands to root for Cary and Matt, who never faced one another. Cary and Bryan were two of only three duelists so far to go three rounds without a loss, but Matt and his opponent each had the opportunity with this final duel to claim the same status.

Nick Sims, Thomas's roommate, was Matt's opponent, which he thought was awfully coincidental. He was going to enjoy this duel on a personal level.

"You're a bit of a drama queen, aren't you?" Nick asked Matt when he voiced his opinion about the coincidence of the duel.

"A tad," Matt confessed. Rock breaks scissors, and so he added, "I guess you get to start."

"I will. First I'll play Armed Dragon LV3 (3/1200/900), then I'll set one card."

Matt decided to take the early lead. "I'll summon Defender, the Magical Knight (4/1600/2000) and attack your Armed Dragon (1200). I'll put a card facedown and that's all." Matt 8000: Nick 8000 – 400 = 7600.

"I'll chain Call of the Haunted to your End Phase to revive Armed Dragon LV3 (1200)." He drew a card and said, "Now during my Standby Phase, Armed Dragon LV3 goes to the Graveyard and gets replaced by Armed Dragon LV5 (5/2400/1700)."

Matt grinned as the three-dimensional dragon grew into a much larger dragon. "That's pretty cool. I remember reading about the level-up monsters, but I've never had to face one."

"I'm glad to introduce you," Nick replied. "My LV5 dragon lets me discard Luster Dragon #2 (1900) to destroy a monster on your field with fewer attack points."

"Lucky me, Defender (1600) has his own ability. When I summoned him, he got a Spell Counter. If I remove that Spell Counter, it prevents the destruction of one spellcaster on my field, like himself."

Nick huffed. "Nice move, but LV5 (2400) still gets to attack and destroy your monster the old-fashioned way. And this really works out for the best, because he evolves again during the End Phase only after he destroys a monster in battle. Now he's Armed Dragon LV7 (7/2800/1000)." Matt 8000 – 800 = 7200: Nick 7600.

"Sweet! That's pretty badass. I don't have anything on me that can take him down. I'll set a monster and end my turn."

Nick laughed to himself at how handily he was ready to beat Matt. "I'll summon Mirage Dragon (4/1600/600) and have him attack your monster."

"Good call," Matt said. "It was Crystal Seer (1/100/100). I take two cards off the top of my deck, then put one of them in my hand and the other at the bottom of my deck."

"And now LV7 (2800) will attack you directly. I'll put another card down." Matt 7200 – 2800 = 4400: Nick 7600.

Matt drew and said, "Oh, now here's a good card. Swords of Revealing Light prevent you from attacking me for three turns. I'll put a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"I hardly know anyone who runs the Swords anymore," Nick mocked. Despite his mockery, he still couldn't play a card this turn. And Matt was smart enough to keep his monster facedown so Nick's Armed Dragon couldn't use its effect. "I'll summon a Masked Dragon (3/1400/1100) and end my turn."

"_A_ masked dragon?" Matt repeated. "I guess you've got another one in your hand." This was a prime example of word choice telling the opponent about the cards you hold. Matt was glad to have the knowledge, but it didn't ultimately change anything in his strategy. "I'll set another monster and end my turn."

Nick groaned when he realized he still couldn't attack on the second turn because of Matt's Swords of Revealing Light. "Take your turn."

"Good stuff," Matt said. "I'll send Summoner Monk and Magician's Valkyria to the Graveyard to summon my Buster Blader (7/26005600/2300), who gains 500 points for each dragon on your field and in your Graveyard."

"Holy crap!" Nick gasped. "I didn't realize you'd run that card."

"Why? Because he's completely incompatible with the Dark Magician? You _did_ know the theme of my deck already, right?" Finished with the sarcasm, Matt said, "Buster Blader is one of my favorite cards, not because he's so powerful or anything, but because he's just awesome-looking. His power is a bonus, and I'm about to demonstrate it on your Armed Dragon LV7 (2800)." Matt 4400: Nick 7600 – 2800 = 4800.

"Here we go," Nick said. "I'll play Level Modulation, so you get to draw two cards, but I get to revive Armed Dragon LV7 (7/2800/1000) and Tribute it for Armed Dragon LV10 (10/3000/1000)!"

"Wow," Matt uttered. "That's a big dragon."

"And his effect is way better than the others. I discard _any_ monster, and all your face-up monsters are destroyed regardless of attack power."

"That really sucks for me," Matt noted, "but at least Swords of Revealing Light lasts until the end of this turn."

Nick actually forgot about that momentarily, but he'd never admit it aloud. "Take your turn. This duel is mine thanks to Armed Dragon LV10."

"Why do people always say that?" Matt asked in reply. "I didn't say that when I played Buster Blader. In fact, my pessimistic side was already making plans for what to do when you destroyed my monster. Not _if_, but _when_." He drew his card and said, "See? Now I have another card to beat your dragon. I'll play Premature Burial and pay 800 LP to revive Buster Blader (6100). I'll also summon Skilled White Magician (4/1700/1900)."

"That's not enough to end the duel," Nick pointed out.

"Yes, it is. Armed Dragon LV10 (3000) isn't your only monster in attack mode. Masked Dragon (1400) and Mirage Dragon (1600) are also in attack mode. Buster Blader (6100) can wipe away a huge chunk after beating Masked Dragon (1400), and Skilled White Magician (1700) taps you out against Mirage Dragon (1600)." Matt 4400: Nick 4800 – 4700 – 100 = 0.

Nick couldn't believe he forgot to put his monsters in defense mode, but in his defense, he didn't know that Matt would revive the Buster Blader; he was counting on Matt having weaker monsters to summon.

"That was incredibly lucky on your part," Nick said sternly in an effort to rationalize the loss.

"Why? What was your facedown card?" It was Dragon's Bead, which was never necessary because Matt never targeted a dragon with a trap card. "I sure was lucky," Matt said, humoring his opponent for now. "Maybe we'll duel again sometime."

And so ended the freshman placement exams.

* * *

I've noticed most people tend to add author's notes to the beginning and the end of their chapters, and it seems like a trend worth following.  
I know there's not much story to this chapter, but it seemed important to include because revenge duels always seem prevalent and this brings Thomas's attitude to a close for a little while. The next chapter is one of my favorites; I'll have it up sometime on Saturday at the latest. It has more significant character development and attempts to show how addictive the allure of dueling can be to people with a competitve side.


	6. A Date and a Duel

Chapter 6: A Date and a Duel

"I'm proud to announce," Headmaster West spoke at the auditorium, "the names of the four new freshman prefects. These prefects will represent the Red Dorm as the leading duelists with the highest ranks of any freshmen. Give your congratulations to Cary Strickland and Kasumi Okuyama, and to Matthew Luther and Bryan Knight."

The ceremony was fairly short and consisted primarily of reintroducing the prefects of each upperclass dormitory, then giving badges to the freshman prefects to sew on their jackets. Afterwards there was another feast, as was the custom for major Academy events. It's amazing everyone wasn't fat.

There were no real changes to the lifestyle of the prefects other than the badges and the respect among the faculty, and it was the first time in Academy history that prefects of both sexes were already roommates. The new prefects had a short meeting with all the faculty members of the Academy just for the purpose of meeting one another. Pr. Baker and Dr. Kerr they met simply by having the two as advisors. Professor Maya Kawamura from the Yellow Dorm seemed the least excited about meeting them; rumor was that she was the worst duelist among the faculty. On the other hand, Dr. Oscar Apple of the same dorm was among the top-ranked duelists in the world, so his few words of advice carried a lot of weight. Lastly, Dr. Kevin Lankford was the only advisor of the Blue Mansion. He had a duel deck that was undefeated against almost any except Headmaster West.

"I was impressed with your dueling," Dr. Lankford said. "You were four out of only seven who correctly answered the brain teaser on the written exam. I always like my students to be able to think through their moves."

Dr. Kerr added, "I've never seen a group of freshmen with so much potential and so much talent."

"Potential?" Bryan repeated. "I'm already the strongest duelist around. Except that Matt always manages to match me move for move."

"You are awfully confident," Dr. Kerr smiled.

"Hey," Bryan said. "Come to think of it, now is the perfect time to bring this up." He turned to the headmaster and said, "Matt and I wanted to talk to you about the Guardian Duelers."

Maya grabbed his shoulder nervously and said, "How do you know about them?"

"Dave is my cousin," Cary reminded her. "It's easier for me to get secrets from him."

"I remember that now," Dr. West said. "No doubt that's how you got so good. Dave is our number one student here, and I'm sure you've practiced with him a few times over the years and picked up a few things. But, what did you want to know?"

Bryan grinned. "We want to join."

The professors all looked at one another for a moment, some in awe and some without surprise.

"That's ridiculous," Maya complained. "They are the best duelists at the school. How can you possibly beat them?"

"Because now that we're here," Bryan said, "the current Guardians aren't the best anymore."

Dr. West mulled the thought for a moment. "Hmm. A freshman join the Guardian Duelers? We've never had one before."

"That's not to say we haven't let them try," Dr. Lankford pointed out.

"That's true," Baker said. "We have allowed freshmen to challenge the Guardian Duelers before. We've just never had any who managed to win. Like Maya said, they're usually the best duelists on the island."

"Besides," Dr. Apple agreed, "isn't the whole point to the Guardian Duelers to find the best and strongest duelists to protect the god cards? If these two are, indeed, stronger than any of the current Duelers, then they should be switched in."

Dr. West thought for a moment and said, "Alright. We'll give it two weeks for preparation, then any duelists who can pass a challenging written exam will be allowed to duel against a Guardian Dueler of his or her choosing. Oh! There's also the matter of a screening for god card suitability."

"Sweet," Bryan said. "We already know about the magic-card-thing." He gave Matt a high five. "In two weeks, we'll get to upgrade from these red blazers to cool black jackets!"

"Is this guys only, or can anyone join?" Kasumi asked.

"You are free to apply, as well," Dr. Kerr told her. "I'd be glad to help you prepare."

"I think, to be fair, we'll open this to any duelist who passes the pre-screening exam," Dr. West said. "I'll release an announcement later today. Students have one week to submit a request and another week to schedule a pre-screening exam. Then we'll schedule the challenges."

Friday night couldn't come quickly enough for Bryan. The important part as far as Bryan was concerned was that no Saturday morning schedule meant he could sleep in. That would be especially useful if his date with Erica went well.

Yes, Bryan managed to sweet talk Erica into going on a date with a guy three years her junior. She was concerned about starting an actual relationship with him, but she figured one date couldn't hurt, and if it didn't go all that well, then they'd know it wouldn't work and she and Bryan could be friends without hurting him too much.

"Dude, do you really think a senior girl is going to fall for a guy like you?" Matt asked his practical brother. "Don't take this the wrong way, but she's just about to graduate and probably isn't looking for a college sophomore to tie her down while she's got a job."

"You might be right," Bryan admitted, "or you could be dead wrong. Maybe we're perfect for one another." He sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror. "You're _probably_ right, but she's so hot. I have to give it a shot."

"Fair enough."

Bryan looked at Matt. "What are you guys up to tonight?"

"The Guard Trio—" their name for Dave, Andy, and Justin as a group "—and I are also going to hit up a movie in town, but whereas you will be minding your manners to impress Erica, we'll be talking loudly and bugging the crap out of everyone else while we act out _Mystery Science Theater 3000_."

"That's awesome," Bryan said with a grin. "That should be a lot of fun for you guys."

"Yeah. Not the same as a date with a hot girl, but still fun. What's up for you after the movie?"

"Don't know. I'm going to gauge Erica's mood at the time and go from there."

Matt nodded. "Just don't get your hopes up. I've seen you like this before, and I really think it's too early for the Guard Trio to meet Heartbreak Bryan and listen to your Elvis impression." Matt wasn't trying to be harsh, but trying to help keep Bryan with realistic expectations. It was possible Erica could be interested in a real relationship with him, or maybe she's just being nice.

When the duo got to the Guardian house, Erica answered the door wearing clothes very similar to what she'd worn all week. Right there, Bryan's expectations sunk slightly; if she were especially looking forward to this, she'd probably have worn something nicer.

"Hey, you ready to go?" she asked Bryan. She gave him a greeting hug, then noticed Matt's presence and waved. "Hey, Matt. Why are you here?"

"I'm meeting with Dave's cronies. They're putting me through some sort of initiation before I can follow Dave around like a puppy. I can handle eating dog food, but I draw the line at dragging my butt across the carpet."

Erica smiled. "You are so weird. But the guys aren't back yet." She hesitantly looked into the dark house and said, "I guess it might be okay if you want to wait inside."

Matt declined. "No. It's generally safer property-wise and accusation-wise if I wait out here. I'll just sit at the picnic table over there until they get back. I appreciate the offer, though. You two go have fun."

While Bryan and Erica walked away from the cabin arm-in-arm, Matt sat down at the picnic table and pulled a book from his pocket. He read about advanced dueling techniques and listened to the surrounding environment. The crickets were out in force this evening, and even the owls were starting to stir. Matt was no ornithologist, but he was a camper and so could identify almost all the sounds he heard. Except the one that sounded like the front door of the cabin opening. He looked up expecting to see someone entering, but instead he saw someone exiting. It wasn't Erica or the Guard Trio; it was someone who definitely didn't belong there. Matt put his book away and approached the person.

"Pardon me," he said. "Who are you?"

The guy jumped when he first saw Matt, but he quickly put on a stern face. "I live here. Who are _you_?"

"You didn't answer my question. How'd you get in there?"

"Through the front door, duh," the guy insisted.

"Odd. Erica said there was no one home when she left."

"Erica? She's my roommate. She left the cabin a little while ago with a guy. Now pardon me but I have a date."

Matt stepped in front of the white guy who wore a black hoodie and black pants, hiding his identity and his dorm. "I'm sorry to sound pushy, but you're obviously not Dave, Andy, or Justin. And clearly you aren't Erica. You also don't look like a Yul Tan. Are you the sixth roommate? I can't remember your name, but I'm a friend of Andy's. My name is Picante Smidgeon."

The guy hesitantly accepted Matt's handshake. "Elijah Cardine. Sorry, but I've got a date to run to."

"I'm sure you do," Matt said as he tightened his grip on Elijah's hand and gripped his forearm to hold him in place. Matt's size might not make him particularly intimidating, but he had a lot of strength hidden in his thin arms. "I lied before. I do remember, and you don't look at all like the Lucy Mercer I flirt with daily. What did you take?"

Elijah tried to worm his way out of Matt's grip. "Dude, let me go." The more he squirmed, the more he hurt himself. "Ow. What are you—Popeye?"

"I am what I am, and that's all you need to know. Give it back now and maybe I'll only turn you in instead of calling the campus police."

"Help! Help!"

Matt scoffed. "How stupid are you? You really want to draw anyone over here asking questions? I've got witnesses to justify my presence here. Do you?"

Elijah continued trying to get away, but Matt's arm was like a vice-grip by comparison. "Look, kid. I'll duel you to let me go."

"Are you kidding me?" Matt asked him. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Just give me whatever you took right now."

"You're not supposed to turn down a challenge," Elijah insisted. "Come on. Duel me!"

Matt considered the idea only because Elijah wasn't going to get far on an island without being tracked down again, and it sounded like an interesting way to deal with the problem. He finally accepted, but on the condition that Elijah immediately hand over whatever he stole.

"We're dueling for it," Elijah told him.

"No," Matt retorted. "We're dueling over whether I turn you in or not. You hand over the goods right now before I lose my patience."

Finally Elijah reached into his pocket and handed Matt two items. "A gold bracelet… and what I can only assume are Erica's sweaty underwear. Either that or my first impression of Dave was way off." He shot Elijah a dirty look and said, "You are disgusting. I don't even want to duel you anymore."

"Hey! You just said we had a deal."

Matt let go of Elijah's arm and slipped the bracelet into his pocket while holding the underwear as if it were radioactive. "Fine, but I'll shuffle my own cards." There was a duel terminal next to the Marufuji academic building not far from the house.

"Looks like I go first," Matt said when scissors cut paper. "I'll set a monster and end my turn."

"Just remember our deal," Elijah said nervously. "I'll summon Skilled Dark Magician (4/1900/1700) and attack your monster."

"Crystal Seer (1/100/100)," Matt said. "I get to pick up my top two cards, then put one in my hand and one on the bottom of my deck." Matt kept the Copycat and put the Dark Magician back in his deck.

"Okay. I'll now play Spell Power Grasp. That puts a Spell Counter on my Skilled Dark Magician, and then his effect gives him a second Spell Counter when a spell is played. I'll set a card and end my turn."

Matt looked over his hand and the field for a second. "Three Spell Counters on the Skilled Dark Magician is the cutoff? That's when you can send him to the Graveyard for the Dark Magician?" Elijah nodded, not realizing that Matt was genuinely curious and not gloating. "Okay. I'll play Change of Heart, a spell that lets me take control of one of your monsters." Elijah was obviously not happy to have his field wide open for attack. "Change of Heart gave him Spell Counter number three," Matt continued, "and now I'll send him to the Graveyard to summon my own Dark Magician (7/2500/2100)."

"You use the Dark Magician, too?" Elijah asked.

Matt just smiled. "I'll also summon Magician's Valkyria (4/1600/1800) and use both monsters to attack you directly. Then I'll set a card and end my turn." Matt 8000: Elijah 8000 – 2500 – 1600 = 3900.

Elijah looked a little discouraged—perhaps "desperate" is the word. "I'll set a monster and activate Arcane Barrier. It gets a Spell Counter anytime a spellcaster is destroyed. I'll also set a card. Your turn."

"Alright," Matt said. He looked over the monsters in his hand and decided to play safe for the moment in case Elijah had a destruction card facedown. "I'll attack your monster with Magician's Valkyria (1600)."

"I'll activate Magician's Circle," Elijah said. "Now we both summon a spellcaster with 2000 or less attack points."

"Fewer," Matt corrected him. "Attacks points are a number, not an amount. You have _fewer_ attack points; you have _less_ attack power."

Elijah gave him a look, then shrugged it off and said, "Whatever." Matt was quick to summon Dark Magician Girl (6/2000/1700) from his deck, but he noticed how long it took Elijah to summon something. Finally Elijah said, "I'll play Dark Red Enchanter (6/17002300/2200). He gets two Spell Counters when summoned, and each one increases his attack points by 300. Now it's still your turn."

"So it is," Matt said. "I'll attack your Enchanter (2300) with my Dark Magician (2500) while he's still stronger."

"Which he isn't," Elijah said. "I'll chain Fires of Doomsday, a quick-play spell that summons two Doomsday Tokens (1/0/0) to my field in defense mode and puts a Spell Counter on Dark Red Enchanter (2600)." The Dark Magician's attack was declared, however, and so it backfired and destroyed itself because it had _fewer_ attack points.

"Crap," Matt said. "That was a good play. But it's still my Battle Phase, so I guess I'll have Magician's Valkyria (1600) attack your facedown monster."

Elijah flipped it up and said, "Apprentice Magician (2/400/800). When she's destroyed, I get to set another low-level spellcaster; I pick Magical Plant Mandragola (2/500/200)." Elijah was forced to show the card by rule, but he still placed the monster facedown so Matt couldn't read the effect before declaring an attack.

"Fine," Matt said. "I'll attack your facedown monster with Dark Magician Girl (2300)." Both players knew already, but she gained 300 points because a Dark Magician existed in a player's Graveyard.

"Mandragola (200) puts a Spell Counter on every card on the field that can hold one. Dark Red Enchanter (2900) powers up again, and Arcane Barrier now has four Spell Counters—three for the destroyed spellcasters and one for Mandragola's effect."

"Lovely," Matt moaned sarcastically. "I'll set a card and end my turn." Matt 8000 – 200 = 7800: Elijah 3900.

Matt soon recognized the voices of the Guard Trio as they returned to the cabin. Justin pointed out Matt's presence at the duel table and the group approached with Lucy close behind. Her school skirt really showed off the size of her legs, but more noticeable for most guys was that her jacket was a size too big everywhere except the chest. Matt adjusted already, but Elijah was prone to staring.

"Hey, Matt," Andy said. "Sorry we're running a little late. I see you obviously found a way to kill some time, though. Another fan of yours?"

Elijah glared at Matt, who returned a grin. "Something like that," Matt said. "Is Lucy coming with us? Does she know we plan to talk during the movie?"

"I'm okay with it," she said with a smile as she brushed Matt's arm. "Looks like a good game here, Elijah." Matt figured from that comment that Elijah and Lucy already knew one another. "You guys use a lot of the same cards I use."

Matt's accusing glance turned back to Elijah. "Really?" he asked evilly. "What are the odds?"

Justin patted Matt on the shoulder and said, "Give us a few minutes to get ready and we'll head out. See if you can't end this duel quickly."

"No problem," Matt said. He waved to his friends as they went inside the house to get changed from their school uniforms into more casual clothes.

Elijah spoke first about Lucy. "You wonder how she manages to get into clothes like that?"

"Yeah," Matt said blankly. His head swiveled on his neck until he was glaring at Elijah again. "I wonder why your cards look so much like her cards after I just caught you sneaking out of her house."

Elijah pointed at him eagerly and said, "We had a deal."

Matt's grinned just widened. "This does not end well for you. Take your turn."

Now more nervous than before, Elijah was tempted just to run straight away. But for whatever reason, a duelist is a duelist, and he hoped Matt would honor the deal.

"I'll discard a card from my hand to Special Summon The Tricky (5/2000/1200). Then I'll play Tricky Spell and send The Tricky to the Graveyard to summon two Tricky Tokens (5/2000/1200) in his place."

"Why?" Matt asked curiously. But he already knew the answer. In his calculating mind, he realized that Elijah was playing with Lucy's deck, and she was the guardian of a god card.

"I'll send my Tricky Tokens and my Dark Red Enchanter to the Graveyard so I can summon Obelisk the Tormentor (10/4000/4000)!" The holograph box showed the image of a black giant with blue markings on its body that practically filled up Elijah's side of the field.

"You got the card to shine?" Matt asked.

"I used to own Obelisk!" Elijah shouted. "This card belongs to me, not to some slutty sophomore!"

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like an interesting story there."

The door to the cabin opened at that time and Lucy walked up to the duel table looking frustrated. Well… "peeved" might be a more accurate term. Matt assumed the source of her frustration and pointed to Elijah. She looked at the duel and gasped when she saw Obelisk.

"Elijah, you jerk! You stole my deck!"

Before Elijah could run or Lucy could make a bigger deal out of what is already a big deal for most people, Matt said, "Let him finish the duel. I'll beat him on the next turn."

Lucy and Elijah both looked at Matt like he was an idiot. "You're going to defeat Obelisk the Tormentor?" Lucy said harshly. Then she scoffed, a curious duelist at heart. "Fine. One turn, then I beat you both up for stealing."

"Correction," Matt said, touching her arm gently to calm her and return her rational thinking abilities. "I caught him stealing. If I had turned him in right away, I wouldn't have known that he took your deck."

Elijah growled, "Listen to _this_ correction. I'll Tribute my Doomsday Tokens—"

"_Her _Doomsday Tokens," Matt interjected.

"—to activate Obelisk's effect. All your monsters are destroyed. Now your field is wide open, and Obelisk can't even be targeted by spells or traps."

"He doesn't need to be," Matt declared. "I'll summon Copycat (1/04000/04000) and have him copy Obelisk's points. Now we've each got a really big monster on the field. As a follow-up, I'll play Swing of Memories to revive the Dark Magician (7/2500/2100) in my Graveyard for a turn. Then I'll have Copycat (4000) attack Obelisk (4000) head-on. He's not strong enough to win, I know, but he's strong enough not to lose. When their points are equal, both our monsters are destroyed—god card or not."

The Copycat monster—with a mirror reflecting Obelisk's visage in place of a face—having now grown to the same size as Obelisk's holographic form, collided with the black giant and exploded, clearing the field of both monsters.

"No way," Elijah groaned. "I can't lose with Obelisk again!"

Lucy scoffed. "Losing is the easy way out. Believe me."

Matt grinned and continued his turn. "Now that your field is empty, Dark Magician (2500) can attack directly." He paused for a moment and said, "Oh, wait. I said _one_ turn, didn't I?" He laughed and pulled another card from his hand. "My bad. Dedication through Light and Darkness turns my Dark Magician into the Dark Magician of Chaos (8/2800/2600). It's a quick-play spell, which means I'm not done attacking yet, but I'm pretty sure that will end it." Matt 7800: Elijah 3900 – 2500 – 2800 = 0.

Elijah tried to run as soon as he realized the duel was over, but in his desperation, he stumbled and collided face-first with a tree. Matt flinched and commented about Elijah's grace under pressure. The Guard Trio exited the cabin and joined their friends at that point just in time for a brief summary of the situation.

Andy said, "Everyone knows Elijah was ticked off when he lost Obelisk to you, Luce. Matt barely even flinched when he saw Slifer or Ra, so I really doubt he'd even care to steal your card."

"I think what Lucy's really upset about," Dave suggested, "is that Elijah cracked her safe."

Matt thought about what he knew of Elijah, then took a look at Lucy. "Any chance the code is 32-26-32?"

"What?" Lucy asked with an exasperated tone. She looked down at her hips and said, "No!" She blushed and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Too bad," Matt uttered. He gave it another thought and said, "How about your birthday?" She said no. "First day of school?" No. "Expected graduation?" No. "Mother's maiden name in binary?"

"No! Are you just going to keep guessing—"

"What about 20-2-37?" Suddenly Lucy stopped. "That's your age, how long you've been at this Academy, and the ID number for Obelisk the Tormentor. There's also some letters in that last one, but I figured you just took the numbers. Judging from your expression, I think I'm right. And all of that is information easily figured out by someone obsessed with you and who used to own Obelisk."

Justin asked, "How do you know he's obsessed with her?"

Matt shrugged. "Just a guess." He pulled from his pocket the gold bracelet Elijah turned over earlier. "He handed this over when I threatened him earlier. I assume it's also yours." Lucy snatched the bracelet back and emphatically claimed ownership. That made Matt a little slower to admit what was in his other pocket. He pulled the burgundy, silk underwear and said, "And these?"

Lucy gasped loudly and turned bright red. She grabbed the underwear and hid them from sight, and the Guard Trio tried really hard not to laugh. "Oh, you're in so much trouble."

"Calm down," Dave requested. "We'll turn Elijah in before we go anywhere. He'll get kicked out of school and ultimately there's no harm done."

"Fine," Lucy said shyly. She still looked embarrassed that five guys now saw her underwear, including a guy she had been flirting with. She started to take her things inside the cabin, then she turned to Matt and held her finger very close to his face. "And don't you dare start imagining me in these." The Guard Trio started laughing, but Matt merely put on a dirty smirk. Against his better judgment, he decided to embarrass her a little more.

"You prefer I imagine you without them?" He smiled as Lucy blushed even more than she already was. She stormed away from him and left the four guys to deal with Elijah.

"I guess she's not coming with us to the movie anymore," Andy said.

* * *

I've noticed this system doesn't load the markers I type into Word to denote changing attack and defense values. If they still don't show up, or if I missed any when proofreading, I apologize for the potential confusion. I'll fix any such issues that are brought to my attention.  
I chose to use the Effect Monster version of Obelisk for this duel. It seemed smarter and more usable than the anime version.

In the next chapter, Bryan will attempt to earn himself a god card, and Dave will have to defend his. I've already let up a big clue what kind of deck Dave runs, but anyone who missed it will find out soon.


	7. Guarding a God

Chapter 7: Guarding a God

Bryan's date with Erica ended at the door, but it actually went better than Erica expected. Bryan was sweet and charming and a lot of fun to be with, and so she agreed to go out again, but she wanted to wait until after the approaching Guardian challenge.

In the meantime, Matt and the Guard Trio told Bryan what happened with Elijah and Lucy. Apparently Elijah was really stalkerish with Lucy even before she took Obelisk from him, and he just got worse afterward. He was immediately expelled from the Academy for theft and sent home.

"That sucks," Bryan commented. "Not for you guys, but for Elijah. I guess he got off real easy, though, if all that happened is he's expelled from Duel Academy."

Andy explained, "Lucy's not pressing charges because she wants to keep her stuff, but Elijah is still blacklisted by Kaiba Corp."

Bryan made a face. "How does that work?"

"Don't know. Don't care. How's she doing?" Matt asked the Guard Trio. Justin and Andy were playing a mock duel on the table and Dave was sending constant text messages to his girlfriend back home. "She still upset that I saw her underwear?"

"She'd be madder if she were wearing them at the time," Justin replied. "She's not really mad at you. She's actually really self-conscious that she's… developed… so much so quickly."

"Oh yeah?" Bryan said as his ears perked up. "That's a problem for her?"

"Well," Erica said, "she still gets teased pretty consistently by other girls, and it was worse in high school. Plus, guys are prone to staring." As she said that, she eyed Bryan suspiciously.

"Hey, I only stare at you," he replied.

Dave commented, "It's really tough for a guy to understand, Bryan. To you, a big chest is something to be proud of. To Lucy, it's a source of insecurity because she's so different from most girls her age, and most girls tend to be jealous and make fun of her to cope."

"Is that true?" Bryan asked Erica. She nodded. "That kinda supports a theory of mine."

"What's that?" Justin asked.

Bryan smiled and said, "That women inherently hate each other."

Erica scoffed. "That's not true!"

Dave stopped laughing long enough to say, "It's a little true." He received a message on the phone and said, "Even Monica agrees, and she doesn't hate anyone."

That was about the time Baker handed Bryan his schedule for a Guardian duel. Bryan felt extremely confident in his ability when he met with the faculty and registered to challenge Yul Tan. The most anxiety-provoking part of the registration was making Uria, Lord of Searing Flames shine. Bryan took the card in his fingers and felt instantly shot down when the card didn't immediately begin to glow. But he got a second chance when Dr. West told him the way to make the card shine was to close his eyes and focus on one thing—it didn't matter what; to generate energy required only focus of the mind. Bryan's mental sketchpad drew a picture of Erica and focused on her beautiful face. Her oval-shaped head, soft skin, cute little nose, sharp eyes, and full lips rendered her a nearly perfect woman in Bryan's eyes.

"There's one every year," Dr. Lankford spoke, breaking Bryan from his mental trance. "We always find at least one freshman who can make a god card shine. Good luck trying to obtain it."

Now Bryan was even more excited. He didn't experience another sensation of inferiority until the evening of the Guardian Challenge, when it was brought to his attention that he was the only challenger who didn't own his own Duel Disk.

"You don't even have a Duel Disk and you think you can beat one of the Guardians?" he was asked by Lori Colman, a junior and member of the Academy's Team Lockdown. "I admire your pluck, but honestly I don't think you have much of a shot."

"Why not?" Bryan replied. "What's the real difference a Duel Disk makes? It weighs down the left arm and forces you to stand through the duel. I really don't see an upside."

Lori shook her head while smiling disappointedly. "It's a sign that you should be taken seriously as a duelist."

"Don't let her discourage you," spoke Bobby Loper, Lori's boyfriend, another junior and member of Team Lockdown. "Duel Disks are signs of serious duelists, but I've seen some good duelists who didn't have one. I'm sure you'll put up a strong showing."

"But you don't think I'll win," Bryan noted.

Bobby shrugged. "Yul is really good, plus I'm challenging him, too. If I beat him first, then you have to duel me, and I rarely lose."

"I look forward to seeing it happen, then," Bryan told him cheerfully.

Matt found an open place in the stands around the pavilion and relaxed. Shortly he was joined by Kasumi Sato, Cary's roommate and good friend. Matt had grown to appreciate Kasumi for more than her beauty, though it certainly made her more fun to look at. She was a sweet person and had shown herself capable of dealing with Matt's unique sense of humor; she even thought he was somewhat funny.

Cary was challenging Lucy for Obelisk and so was backstage with Bryan. But the observing challengers occupied a specific stand of bleachers on the opposite side of the stadium, and Matt was the most attractive person Kasumi was comfortable talking to.

"You're not competing?" Kasumi asked Matt curiously.

He shook his head. "I'm not really interested. I like the idea of dueling these guys, but I don't care about the god cards. Besides, I don't really want to kick anyone out of their rooms. I'll leave the relocating to Bryan." He took a good, fairly long look at Kasumi and asked, "Why aren't you trying?"

She looked down and sadly said, "I couldn't make the card shine."

"I'm sorry. Which one did you go for?"

"Andy's card. The Ra dragon. I figured if I could beat him, that's the only god card that would fit into my deck."

"Is that right? You use dragons, yeah?"

She nodded, looking a little happier now that Matt took an interest in her deck. "I do. Cary apparently better at dueling, though, because she made Obelisk shine; she's getting ready to duel the big-breasted girl."

Matt smiled lightly, only because he knew that women inherently hate each other. "Lucy," he corrected Kasumi.

Kasumi blushed. "Right. Lucy. Sorry." She was quiet for a moment, then said, "Are you good friends with her?"

Matt chuckled and said honestly, "She's upset with me."

"Oh?" Kasumi sounded happier now. "Why?" In Kasumi's eye, Matt was funny, tender, and hot enough to fry an egg by looking at it. She assumed any woman who didn't like him was an idiot.

"I saw her underwear."

Now Kasumi's heart sank again and she felt jealous, but to be fair, she logically misinterpreted what Matt just said. When he saw the look of sadness mixed with disdain on Kasumi's face, Matt laughed and told her the full story, that Elijah stole Lucy's underwear and Matt caught him. Kasumi was still incredibly jealous that Matt would pay _any_ attention to Lucy, but now she was able to push that aside and focus on how happy she was to spend some time with him watching their friends duel.

"Where's Thomas?" Matt asked, suddenly remembering Bryan's first encounter with the Ben Kei deck.

Kasumi forced a smile and said, "He's over there with a bunch of his guy friends. We're still having a rough patch."

"I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

Kasumi smiled at Matt's consideration, but she didn't want to talk about Thomas right then. She was more interested in getting to know Matt a little better.

The first duel was between Dave and Lori Colman. As a member of Team Lockdown, Lori's deck focused on controlling the field to the point the opponent can't make a move, either through limiting playable cards or by creating a loop the opponent can't escape. Team Lockdown was formed by a band of duelists who favored lockdown strategies to foster camaraderie and learning among like-minded people, but in general, their purpose is to be better than the Guardian Duelers. Lock down the opponent's field before a god card can be played.

But Dave was once part of Team One-Turn-Kill, a group whose strategies revolve on winning the duel in a single turn. And Dave won first-turn priority in rock-paper-scissors.

"I'll start by playing Card Destruction; this spell forces us both to discard our entire hands to the Graveyard and draw back the same number of cards from our decks. Now I'll play Pot of Greed, a spell to draw two more cards. Now I'll play Graceful Charity, a spell that lets me draw three cards as long as I discard any two from my hand. Next is Pot of Avarice, a Spell that lets me take five monster cards from my Graveyard and shuffle them into my deck, then draw two more cards into my hand."

"That's great," Lori mumbled. "Do I get to do anything?"

"In a minute," Dave told him. "I'll activate Upstart Goblin; this spell lets me draw another card at the cost of giving you 1000 Life Points, and I'll play two copies of it. Now I'll play Magical Mallet, a spell that lets me choose which cards in my hand I don't want, shuffle them back into my deck, then draw the same number of cards back. I'll shuffle back four cards, then draw four new ones. Now I'll place two cards facedown on the field and put a monster in defense mode."

"Finally," Lori said. "It's my turn to draw."

"Hold on," Dave said. "I'll activate my Trap Card called Jar of Greed. By the effect of this card, I get to draw another card from my deck, and I have two copies facedown."

"I wish you would stop drawing," Lori complained.

"Don't worry," Dave said. "I'm done." He pulled five cards from his hand and placed them on his Duel Disk even during Lori's turn. "This duel is over."

"Oh, crap," Lori moaned.

The five cards appeared on the field as individual pieces of the ultimate monster. Two arms connected to two legs and a head to form Exodia the Forbidden One. When all five pieces are in a player's hand, that player automatically wins the duel. Dave 8000: Lori 8000 + 1000 + 1000 = 10,000.

The audience rumbled in response to the quickest duel they'd ever seen.

"Congratulations to David Strickland," Dr. West spoke, "for tying his own Duel Academy record with a one-turn victory."

"That was amazing," Kasumi commented to Matt. "I've never actually seen anyone play Exodia. No wonder he's the strongest duelist at the Academy."

"Yeah," Matt uttered, thinking to himself of strategies he might be able to determine to beat Dave someday.

Speaking of beating a Guardian, it's about time for Bryan's duel to begin. After having seen Bobby Loper lose to Yul Tan, Bryan hoped he might break the cycle and actually beat one of the Guardians. Bryan got the first turn.

"First I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300) and use his effect to move Elemental Hero Avian to my hand. I'll put two cards facedown and end my turn."

Yul Tan was a quiet, contemplative guy. A superior duelist in many ways, the only duel losses he received in recent years came from Yul's connections with professional duelists, and from Dave Strickland. He never had much time for social attachments, what with his constant studies of duel cards and strategies, and of world history. Yul planned to become an archeologist one day and was in such a hurry that he began his studies very early in life. By the time he got to college, he was well ahead of his classmates. Because of his diligence, Yul was ranked the No. 2 duelist on the island, and the duels he lost could be counted on two hands. Yul decided to become a Guardian because of the value of the god cards; he wasn't interested in their monetary worth, but their historical significance. He knew every story and legend attached to each of the cards, and that was why he defended his cards so thoroughly.

"First I draw," Yul said explicitly. "I will play the Cathedral of Nobles." With the activation of this Continuous Spell, the duel terminal transformed into an elaborate Egyptian temple with a statue of a jackal out front and numerous gods from Egyptian religions visible alongside the massive staircase. "This lets me activate trap cards during the same turn I place them on the field. I'll activate Zoma the Spirit and summon this Continuous Trap in defense mode as Zoma (4/1800/500) the effect monster. I place three more cards facedown and end my turn."

Bryan was intrigued. "A trap card that's also a monster? That's a really good strategy for summoning Uria." But then he glanced from Zoma to Cathedral of Nobles. _Maybe that temple is worse_, he thought to himself.

"I'll play Polymerization to fuse Avian with Wildheart and summon Elemental Hero Wild Wingman (8/1900/2300). When I discard a card from my hand, I can destroy your Cathedral of Nobles. That should prevent you from using your traps so easily. Then I'll attack Zoma (500) with Stratos (1800) to get rid of one of your traps."

"That will not work," Yul replied proudly. "I played Wall of Revealing Light, and when I pay 7000 LP, your monsters cannot attack unless they have 7000 or more attack points."

"Good grief," Bryan uttered. Sure Bryan wasn't likely to attack now, but Yul just reduced himself to 1000 LP. And Bryan had in mind a good way to take away those points without even attacking. He just needed one more card. "I'll play Fusion Recovery to bring Wildheart and Polymerization back to my hand. Then I'll put another card facedown and end my turn." Bryan 8000: Yul 8000 – 1000 * 7 = 1000.

Yul drew. "I will play Upstart Goblin to draw a card." Yul wanted a specific card from his deck. He drew once again and smirked the way a cocky nerd does when he knows something a jock can't match. "I'll summon Jowgen the Spiritualist (3/200/1300). As long as Jowgen (200) remains on the field, no monsters may be Special Summoned. Now I will activate my Last Turn trap card."

Bryan knew this one. Last Turn changes the rules of the duel entirely. Activated only when the owner has 1000 LP or fewer, it sends all cards in the hand and on the field to the Graveyard except for one monster on the owner's field. The opponent then has to search his deck to find a monster he will pit against the owner's monster. One strategy is to make sure you have the strongest monster available when you activate this card, but Yul's strategy was much more menacing; with Jowgen on the field, Bryan could not Special Summon a monster to face Yul, and therefore Yul would be declared the winner by having the only monster left standing, so to speak.

"I'll chain Ultimate Offering," Bryan said. "I get to pay 500 Life Points to summon Elemental Hero Wildheart (4/1500/1600) from my hand. You like this card? It's one of the traps I'm adding to my deck to help me play Uria. Ultimate Offering's effect counts as a Normal summon, too, and not as a Special Summon. And Wildheart is completely unaffected by traps, meaning Last Turn won't destroy him. Now when Wildheart (1500) and Jowgen (200) go head-to-head, _I'll_ come out on top."

This was a fairly common occurrence for Yul. He needed to catch the opponent at the proper time to prevent any loopholes around Last Turn and Jowgen; occasionally the opponent found one. But Yul had a backup plan ready to go.

"I activate Self-Destruct Button." When the difference in LP between the two duelists is 7000+, Self-Destruct Button automatically reduces both players to 0 LP and declares the duel a draw. Bryan 8000 + 1000 – 500 = 8500: Yul 1000.

Bryan was a little disappointed. "That was anti-climactic. I find a way around your annoying cards and you gyp me like that? That's messed up. Does that mean I don't get Uria?"

"That's right," Yellow Dorm RA and Guardian Dueler counselor Maya Kawamura told him. "Better luck next time."

Dr. West stepped up and said, "Hold on, Ms. Kawamura. Mr. Knight here was moments away from winning the duel, and he did not lose. A draw strikes me as reason to hold a second duel. Let's let these two go again until we have a clear winner."

Bryan excitedly said, "Yes! I like that idea."

Yul was okay with it, too. He was fully aware that he only _prevented a loss_ in that duel; he did not actually win. As mentioned earlier, he rarely lost a duel with his Jowgen/Last Turn combo, but he has had many draws as a result of using Self-Destruct Button as his last resort. As unsatisfying as a draw sounds, bear in mind that the Last Turn combo is very effective, and with the way Yul built his deck, he was successful with Last Turn more often than not.

"This time Yul will begin," Maya declared. Bryan didn't mind, but he wondered why they didn't decide in an unbiased manner, such as flipping a coin or RPS; after all, no one lost that last duel. Apparently Maya just wanted to mix things up and give Yul a shot at a first-turn kill.

"I will set a monster and three other cards," Yul said after he drew.

"Simple enough," Bryan commented. "I'll play Polymerization to fuse Avian and Burstinatrix into Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (6/2100/1200). Let's attack your monster and unleash your traps."

Yul's facial expression made no change. "I'll activate Ordeal of a Traveler. Every time you attack, you must identify a card in my hand correctly or lose your monster."

"Okay," Bryan laughed. He picked a card in Yul's hand. "That's a monster." Yul revealed his card as a monster. Bryan figured if it were a trap, Yul would have played it already. "That means my monster gets to attack."

"My monster is Mystic Tomato (4/1400/1100)," Yul said. "When it is sent to the Graveyard by battle, I can summon a dark monster of 1500 or fewer attack points. I choose Sangan (3/1000/600)."

"Fair enough," Bryan said, "but Flame Wingman's (2100) got a kick to him; when he destroys one of your monsters, you lose LP equal to your monster's AP." When asked if he meant "attack points," Bryan gave a sarcastic "yes." "I'll end by setting a card of my own." Bryan 8000: Yul 8000 – 1400 = 6600.

"I draw. Now I switch Sangan (600) to defense mode and set another monster. I will also set one more card."

Bryan assumed at this point that Yul rarely attacked; he probably spent time relying on Last Turn. Or maybe Yul would finally start attacking if he managed to summon Uria. Bryan actually hoped for that because he felt victory was more definitive if he defeated the opponent's strongest monster.

"Before you begin your main phase," Yul said, "I will activate Anti-Spell Fragrance. According to this, we must each set spells before we can activate them."

Bryan looked at his hand and said, "Crap. That blows. But little harm done. I'll set a card and summon Wroughtweiler (3/800/1200). I'll send Flame Wingman (2100) to destroy Sangan (600)"—he correctly pointed out another monster in Yul's hand—"and inflict damage equal to his AP." After pointing out the only cards in Yul's hand were still monsters, "Wroughtweiler (800) will attack your other monster."

"When Sangan (600) goes to the graveyard, I can retrieve from the deck a monster with fewer AP than 1500; I choose Uria, Lord of Searing Flame (10/0/0). When Cat of Ill Omen (2/500/300) is flipped, one trap is retrieved from my deck and placed on top. I choose to place Last Turn on top of my deck."

Bryan grunted to show his lack of appreciation for the situation. He was ahead in points, but the tide was turning quickly in Yul's favor. Bryan 8000: Yul 6600 – 1000 = 5600.

Yul drew and managed not to smile as he felt the duel was all but over. "I will activate Imperial Custom and Stronghold the Moving Fortress. I will send both those cards plus Ordeal of a Traveler to the Graveyard to summon Uria, Lord of Searing Flame (10/03000/03000). Uria gains points equal to the number of Continuous Traps in my Graveyard times 1000. I will use Uria's effect to destroy one of your facedown cards, and you cannot chain to the effect."

Yul pointed out Bryan's facedown Graceful Charity and destroyed it.

"I will also summon Newdoria (4/1200/800). Now Uria (3000) will destroy Flame Wingman (2100)."

"My other facedown card is Hero Signal. This card lets me summon an Elemental Hero from my deck to the field. I choose Elemental Hero Sparkman (4/1600/1400) in defense mode."

"Newdoria (1200) will destroy Wroughtweiler (800)."

"When he's destroyed by battle, Wroughtweiler gives me back Polymerization and one Elemental Hero from my Graveyard; Avian comes back to my hand."

Yul nodded. "I set one card and activate Cathedral of Nobles." The same Egyptian temple as before filled the electronic field. Bryan 8000 – 900 – 400 = 6700: Yul 5600.

"Okay," Bryan acknowledged. "You've got a really big monster out there." It turns out Bryan was less excited to see his opponent's god card once it actually hit the field. "This is all I've got for now; I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300) and use his second ability to destroy your Anti-Spell Fragrance. Then I'll go ahead and destroy Newdoria (1200) with him."

"When Newdoria is destroyed in battle, he takes another monster with him. I choose Sparkman (1400). And by sending another Continuous Trap to the Graveyard, you increased Uria's attack points."

Bryan nodded acceptingly. "I'll set a card and end my turn." Bryan 6700: Yul 5600 – 600 = 5000.

Yul drew. "I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Now I will have Uria destroy your facedown card."

Bryan laughed. "You missed. The card you destroyed is Hero Medal. When this card gets destroyed while facedown, it gets shuffled back into my deck, and I get to draw a card."

"Fine." Yul recognized a play of desperation. "Now I place another card on the field and attack your Stratos (1800) with Uria (4000)." Bryan 6700 – 2200 = 4500: Yul 5600.

Bryan drew. "I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards. Let's see if I can pull this off. I'll summon Elemental Hero Clayman (4/800/2000), and then I'll play Miracle Fusion to fuse Clayman and Sparkman, by removing them from play, to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (6/2400/1500). Now I only discard a card from my hand to destroy any monster on the field with an _original_ attack power less than Thunder Giant's (2400)."

Yul huffed loudly. Uria's original power was 0. Within the electronic duel terminal, Uria was struck by lightning several times and disappeared. Bryan actually beat a god card!

"Now I'll attack directly with Thunder Giant (2400)."

"I activate Stronghold the Moving Fortress (4/0/2000); it is another trap monster to act as defense."

Bryan smiled. Sure, there was another big monster on the field, but he got rid of the real threat. How tough would it be to get rid of another trap monster?

"I'll attack that with Thunder Giant then."

Yul drew. "I activate Reasoning. By this effect, you call a monster level and I pick up cards until I find a monster. If you were right, I discard the monster. If you were wrong, I Special Summon it."

Bryan thought briefly about which level to call. The most common monster level tended to be level four, but in a Last Turn deck, level three might be more common. "Level three."

Yul picked up and discarded six cards—three of them Continuous Traps—before he found Mystical Beast Serket (6/2500/2000).

"Because you were wrong about its level, I can Special Summon Mystical Beast Serket (2500) to the field. I will have Serket (2500) destroy your Thunder Giant (2400)." The holographic scorpion grew after the attack. "When Serket (3000) destroys a monster in battle, it gains 500 points." Bryan 4500 – 100 = 4400: Yul 5600.

"Great," Bryan groaned. He didn't realize Yul had _two_ really big monsters in his deck. To make things worse, Serket removed Bryan's Thunder Giant from play. Bryan was severely limited in his moves right now.

"I'll summon Elemental Hero Avian (3/1000/1000) and activate R – Righteous Justice; it lets me destroy a spell or trap for each Elemental Hero on the field. I'll destroy Cathedral of Nobles." Bryan smiled. "Like that? If Cathedral of Nobles is not on the field, Mystical Beast Serket gets destroyed."

"That's true," Yul said, "but I will chain to your card my Judgment of Anubis, a trap that negates the effect of a spell that destroys a spell or trap on my field by simply discarding a card from my hand. It also destroys a monster on your field and inflicts damage to you equal to your monster's points."

Bryan sighed in frustration as Avian (1000) was consumed by a jackal-headed beast. "Well, now that he's the only card in my hand, I can Special Summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman (4/800/1200), and because he's the only card I control, I can draw two more cards." Bryan 4400 – 1000 = 3400: Yul 5600.

"For my turn, I will summon Makyura the Destructor (4/1600/1200). Makyura (1600) will destroy Bubbleman (1200) and Serket (3000) will attack you directly." Bryan 3400 – 3000 = 400: Yul 5600.

Bryan drew and prayed for the ability to search the remainder of his deck and take whatever he wanted. But Bryan had a fair hand at using the cards his deck gave him. "First E – Emergency Call lets me pick an Elemental Hero from my Graveyard to put in my hand. I'll activate the special ability of Elemental Hero Necroshade in my Graveyard; once per duel, I can summon a monster without Tributes. I'll summon Elemental Hero Bladedge (7/2600/1800) and have him destroy Makyura (1600). I'll put a card facedown and end my turn." Bryan 400: Yul 5600 – 1000 = 4600.

Yul drew. "I am certain your facedown card is something to fear, but I believe I have located your tell."

Bryan flinched and looked up. "What?"

"Your temple on the left side of your head trembles when you bluff. That's why you keep rubbing your forehead after each of your turns." Many people in the audience were awestruck at Yul's attention to detail. He wouldn't fall for Bryan's bluff. Perhaps it was good that Yul never joined the other guys for Poker.

When Serket (3000) approached Bladedge (2600), Bryan said, "I didn't know my temple trembles. And that wasn't a bluff. I activate Edge Hammer, which lets me Tribute Bladedge in order to destroy your monster and inflict damage to you equal to your monster's original attack points." Bryan 400: Yul 4600 – 2500 = 2100.

Yul was down to one card in his hand and one card on the field. Bryan knew as well as everyone that the facedown card was Last Turn. Yul's gamble on not summoning a monster made Bryan nervous about that last card. If it was Jowgen, then Yul was waiting until his LP were 1000 or lower so he could activate his favorite card. With only Polymerization in his hand, Bryan's chances didn't look so good.

But one draw can change the duel when no one has any hidden cards. "Wow," Bryan uttered. "This was the perfect card to draw. I'll summon Elemental Hero Voltic (4/1000/1500) and attack you immediately. When Voltic (1000) inflicts battle damage, I get to summon one of my Elemental Heroes who was removed from play. I'll bring back Sparkman (1600), and because it's still my battle phase, I will end the duel with this last attack." Bryan 400: Yul 2100 – 1000 – 1600 = 0.

"Well, well, well," Headmaster West announced. "It seems that not only do we have a new member of the Guardian Duelers, but allow me to introduce the first ever freshman to achieve the honor! Congratulations, Bryan Knight!"

And thusly, Bryan obtained for himself a god card: Uria, Lord of Searing Flame. It may seem Bryan emerged on the good fortune side of chance for that duel, but his follow-ups were not nearly as difficult. Follow-ups? you may ask. By taking control of Uria before the end of the challenge, Bryan set himself up as the Guardian of that god card against the remainder of Yul's approved challengers. Although he felt like defending a title he held for only a few minutes was a little unfair, Bryan was still willing to accept any and all challenges, even before he added Uria to his deck.

The other Guardians successfully held their titles and their god cards. Bryan moved into the Guardian house to join his friends; Yul moved into the Blue Mansion. Yul would need a little time to adjust to holding a lower rank than previously, but at least he was still No. 1 outside the Guardian Duelers.

* * *

Sorry for the long chapter. The next one will be much shorter.

A change in living situation also changes Bryan's relationship with Erica, and now Matt has no roommate. Duel Academy begins a fluid list of forbidden cards to prevent duelists from using some of the game's most powerful effects. Will these changes finally introduce a plot?  
Next up: Practical Love


	8. Practical Love

Chapter 8: Practical Love

Matt helped Bryan move his stuff into the Guardian house, which was pretty easy considering they didn't have to move furniture. Knowing the furniture and amenities provided by the Guardian house, Matt kept the fridge and the big TV. Bryan's new room was on the second floor right at the top of the stairs. Lucy's room was next, then Erica's, and Andy was in the far corner of the house.

"How do you like it here?" Andy asked Bryan.

"This place is great," Bryan said. "So much more comfortable than the Red Dorm was. And I really like this jacket."

Bryan and the Guard Trio were hanging out in the living room at night. Whereas Justin and Dave were already dressed for bed, Bryan was dressed the same way he would for class. He wore khaki pants, a black T-shirt, and a black jacket he thought added an air of mystique around him.

"You're the only one who took a leather jacket rather than a black blazer," Andy pointed out. "Some might think it's a way of bragging."

Bryan simply replied dreamily, "Yeah." He liked the look of a leather jacket better, and he could actually get away with it in the Guardian house; the faculty didn't really seem to mind, except Maya Kawamura thought it was highly inappropriate. When he was in the Red Dorm, he rarely wore the red jacket outside of class, but he thought he might wear this leather jacket all the time now that it was getting cooler—both the temperature and Bryan's appearance.

As soon as Justin's Spartan lobbed a plasma grenade that attached to Andy's leg, he let out a cry of victory and all three other guys groaned loudly.

"I am the _Halo_ master," Justin announced. "It's okay to be a little afraid."

"I'd be more afraid if your pajamas didn't have fire trucks on them," Bryan joked.

Justin looked at his pajama pants with the red spots in the shape of fire trucks, which he wore with a plain white T-shirt to bed, and said, "Fire trucks will always be cool, no matter how old I get."

"And you'll never tire of beating me in _Halo_," Dave added. He put the controller down and said, "I think I'm about done for the night. I really doubt the next ten minutes will suddenly give me the finger dexterity necessary to beat you."

"The sign of a truly graceful loser," Justin said with a grin. He looked back at Bryan and said, "Perhaps losing once or twice will teach you how _not_ to insult people who are experts at throwing plasma grenades."

"I'll never learn _that_ lesson," Bryan assured him. "I can still beat you at basketball."

"Maybe so," Dave agreed pretty eagerly. "We should get a game of that going tomorrow. Think Matt will be up for it?"

"Easily," Bryan agreed. Noting Dave's tone, he asked, "Why so eager to play tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is Duel Day."

"What's Duel Day?"

Andy explained, "It is the last day of unrestricted dueling. Starting tomorrow, certain cards will be banned from recorded duels."

"They ban cards? Is that the same as limiting cards?"

"Not exactly," Dave replied. "The limited cards are just a way to prevent loading a deck with copies of the best cards. Like Breaker the Magical Warrior; his spell/trap destruction is too good to have multiple copies available."

"I'm familiar with that list," Bryan said. "But there are cards that are completely banned from use? Why?"

"Always powerful cards," Andy further explained. "Usually ones that can change the duel by themselves. Monster Reborn is a common one. So are free destruction cards like Mirror Force, Raigeki, and Harpie's Feather Duster. Cards that severely impair your opponent while doing little to you frequently get put on the list."

Bryan frowned. "That sucks. Why didn't they tell us the banned cards before? What if people don't have spare cards to put in their decks?"

"The cards don't get permanently banned," Dave said. "The list changes each week, and you can always buy more cards at the card store. Monster Reborn might be on the first list, but you'll likely get to use it again next week or the week after. Few cards get permanently banned."

"But there are some?" Bryan confirmed. "Anything I use?"

Justin shook his head. "Actually, your deck might require the least adjustment each week. The limited cards here don't change from the list Kaiba Corp. produces. The only difference is that some cards occasionally become forbidden."

"That sounds intriguing," Bryan noted. "Should keep the game interesting."

"Especially when it tears apart some of the one-turn kills and the lockdown strategies," Dave laughed. "It's always fun to see those guys' reactions when that happens."

On that note, Bryan asked, "What about the god cards? Do they get banned?"

"No," Justin replied. "For some of us, the god cards are the hearts of our decks. And as powerful as they are, they're also pretty limited if not used effectively."

"Plus, everyone knows we have them," Dave added. "We generally duel without them just to keep the duels interesting, but some people want to duel us just to see if they could beat a god."

"Does someone who wins become a new Guardian?"

Andy shook his head. "Not necessarily. Only official duels can allow the exchange of god cards."

"Isn't that a little bit of a rip-off?" Bryan asked. "Isn't the purpose of the Guardians to make sure the strongest duelists have the god cards? When someone beats one of you, he or she should become a Guardian in your place."

Dave shrugged. "That might be true if one of us ever lost." He admitted not every Guardian was undefeated, except when they use the god cards. "Call it magic, luck, or divine intervention, but the god cards seem to draw on our inner strength and make us better duelists."

Bryan commented, "But sometimes, the god cards are exchanged and given to new Guardians. So someone can beat them, right? I did. Matt did, though I admit Obelisk wasn't played by a real Guardian at the time."

"True," Dave admitted. "People have varying levels of duel strength, and although the god cards tend to amplify a person's strength, there may be others who have more strength to begin with. Ultimately it becomes a contest of duel strength."

"I guess I'm pretty strong to have held my title all week," Bryan noted.

Dave stretched out and yawned, announcing that he was heading to bed in preparation for the mad rush of inevitable challenges for tomorrow. Andy and Justin were of the same mind, and Bryan would have headed to his room if Erica hadn't exited hers in her white nightgown and asked him if they could talk.

"That doesn't sound good," Bryan replied jokingly. More seriously, he said, "I'm not sure what I did, but please let me offer a preemptive and all-encompassing apology."

Erica smiled and touched her fingers gently to Bryan's face. "It's not something you did. You've been really sweet and surprisingly gentle. This is all about me."

Bryan's face dropped. "Which is another way of saying, 'it's a little bit about me.'"

Erica exhaled loudly and was silent for a full minute. "I really like you. You're funny, you're smart, you're talented, and you're really hot."

Bryan leaned forward and said, "_But_…?"

"But this is my last year here. I'm applying across the country for teaching jobs. I don't know where I'll end up. And I don't want to spend three years apart from my boyfriend."

Bryan paused for a moment to absorb what Erica just told him. Finally, he smiled and said, "I understand. It would be tough to deal with."

Erica sighed with relief. She was really glad Bryan was taking this well. She liked him, but she wasn't completely attracted to Bryan romantically. She enjoyed being with him to a degree, but they lacked that real spark that told her their relationship could last. Mostly it was about having fun with a really hot guy, and that could only last so long.

"I'm glad you understand. I really do like you, but I'm worried about how long this could last. The last thing either of us wants is a messy breakup down the line."

"What about other events of this year?" Bryan asked her. "Can we still go to classes and movies together?"

"Sure. With a group." Erica clarified, "I'm okay being a close friend, but I want you to remember that we're not a couple. You should feel free to take another opportunity that comes up. It won't bother me."

Bryan suspected that wasn't entirely true, but he chose not to interpret Erica's words as being harsh; she was being stern to fight how physically attracted to Bryan she was.

"Who dumped who?" Bryan asked.

Erica smiled. "You want to duel for it? You can start."

"Very well," Bryan said. And so they set up a duel on the coffee table in the living room, without holograms or an audience. "I'll start with a monster facedown, one facedown card, and the Field Spell card Skyscraper 2 – Hero City. But I'll also play Future Fusion. I'll send Elemental Hero Wildheart and Necroshade from my deck to the Graveyard, and in two turns, I can fuse them together."

Erica smiled competitively. "We'll see if you even last two turns." She drew and started her turn. "I'll activate Crystal Tree and summon Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus (4/1800/1200). When he's summoned, I get to take another Crystal Beast from my deck and put it in my spell/trap zone. I choose Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise."

"Your spell/trap zone?" Bryan repeated. He read the effect on the card to be sure what it said. "That's pretty cool. Your monsters can also be Continuous Spells?"

"Yes, and every time one is placed in my spell/trap zone, I get to place a Crystal Counter on my Crystal Tree. Now Sapphire Pegasus (1800) will attack your monster."

"Looks like I lose Burstinatrix (3/1200/800)," Bryan noted.

"I'll set one more card and end my turn."

Bryan drew. "Thanks to Skyscraper 2, Burstinatrix (1200) gets revived during my Standby Phase. Then I'll summon Elemental Hero Heat (4/16002000/1200), who gains 200 AP for each Elemental Hero on my field. Heat (2000) will now attack Sapphire Pegasus (1800)."

"I'll activate Last Resort," Erica interrupted. "When you attack, I get to activate the Field Spell card Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins from my deck. Now because only one Field Spell can activate at a time, yours is destroyed, but Last Resort's other effect lets you draw a draw for your loss."

"Fair enough. But my attack still goes through, right?"

"Yes. Sapphire Pegasus (1800) is destroyed and goes to my spell/trap zone, giving my Crystal Tree another Crystal Counter."

"Great. Now Burstinatrix (1200) will attack you directly."

"That's where the effect of Rainbow Ruins comes in," Erica said. "I get more effects for each Crystal Beast in my spell/trap zone. For one Crystal, my Field Spell can't be destroyed by card effects. For two Crystals, I get to cut any Battle Damage you deal to me in half." Bryan 8000: Erica 8000 – 200 – 600 = 7200.

"Those Crystal Beasts are tough," Bryan admitted.

"Yes, they are. Now I'll send Crystal Tree to the Graveyard to activate its ability; I place one Crystal Beast from my deck into my spell/trap zone for each Crystal Counter. I choose Cobalt Eagle and Amber Mammoth. When I have four Crystals, Rainbow Ruins lets me draw an extra card during my turn. I'll set a monster and end my turn."

"Awesome. Now Future Fusion activates and summons Elemental Hero Necroid Shaman (6/1900/1800) to my field. When he's summoned, I get to send a monster on your field to the Graveyard and summon another."

Erica grinned and allowed Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle to go straight to the Graveyard instead of her spell/trap zone.

"Now I've only got one monster in my Graveyard."

Bryan shrugged. "I guess I'll summon it right back, then, in attack mode."

"And activate her ability at the same time," Erica said. "When Ruby Carbuncle is Special Summoned, I get to summon as all the Crystal Beasts in my spell/trap zone. Cobalt Eagle (800) and Emerald Tortoise (2000) go to defense mode, but Amber Mammoth (1700) and Sapphire Pegasus (1800) go to attack mode. And because Sapphire Pegasus was summoned again, I get to put another Crystal Beast from my deck into my spell/trap zone, and I choose Topaz Tiger."

"That's a lot of monsters to play on _my_ turn," Bryan noted. "But at least I have another card to play. Demise of the Land activates when you Special Summon a monster and lets me activate a Field Spell card from my deck. I choose Skyscraper, and because a new Field Spell was played, your Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins is destroyed."

"Lucky you," Erica said.

"Maybe you're right. Now I'll use the effect of Necroshade in my Graveyard to summon a monster from my hand without Tributes: Elemental Hero Bladedge (7/2600/1800). Now I have almost as many monsters as you do. First I'll send Hero Heat (2400) to destroy Ruby Carbuncle (300)."

"I'll use Amber Mammoth's (1700) effect to redirect your attack toward him."

"Fine. I'll have Necroid Shaman (1900) attack Ruby Carbuncle (300) instead. Then I'll send Bladedge (2600) to destroy Cobalt Eagle (800) with piercing damage. Finally, I'll let Burstinatrix (1200) attack Sapphire Pegasus (1800); thanks to my Skyscraper, any Elemental Hero who attacks a monster with more AP gains 1000 AP for that attack, meaning Burstinatrix (2200) is stronger." Bryan 8000: Erica 7200 – 700 – 1600 – 1800 – 400 = 2700.

"Geez," Erica moaned. "No wonder you keep beating people. Talk about a lot of lucky draws."

"It's not luck," Bryan argued. "I'm just that good. And Dave says Uria makes magic."

Speaking of Uria… Erica drew her card and smiled. She had four Crystal Beasts in her spell/trap zone—she sent Cobalt Eagle to the Graveyard in case she wanted to play a spell during her turn—and a hand that could easily turn the duel around.

She set the card she just drew on the table away from her hand. "I'll summon Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat (3/1200/400). Then I'll play Crystal Promise, which lets me Special Summon a Crystal Beast—like Ruby Carbuncle (300)—from my spell/trap zone. When she's summoned, I can also summon Sapphire Pegasus (1800) and Topaz Tiger (1600). With Sapphire Pegasus's effect, I'll put another copy of Ruby Carbuncle from my deck into my spell/trap zone."

"Holy Crap, you're into jewelry," Bryan commented. "Maybe if I bought you more necklaces, you wouldn't want to break up."

She smiled amusedly, but Erica was worried Bryan thought that really had _anything_ to do with her decision. She thought about the god card in her hand and sighed.

"I'll attack Burstinatrix (1200) with Sapphire Pegasus (1800), and Necroid Shaman (1900) with Topaz Tiger (2000) because he gets 400 extra points when he declares an attack. By cutting her points in half, Amethyst Cat (600) can attack you directly. Next I'll use Emerald Tortoise's effect to put Amethyst Cat (400) in defense mode. Then I'll end my turn." Bryan 8000 – 600 – 100 - 600 = 6700: Erica 2700.

Bryan noticed the way Erica bit her lip in the back. "You're not going easy on me, are you?"

She forced a smile and said, "No way. You think I want to lose so badly?"

"No, but I get the feeling this duel is a lot closer than it looks. Are you sure you're playing the way you want to? I'll let you redo your Main Phase II."

"No," Erica insisted with emphatic shaking of her head. "I'm good. Bring it, tough guy." Bryan didn't fully buy her story, but he didn't want to be too pushy right now.

"Okay. I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300) to the field and use his second effect to send Amber Mammoth from your spell/trap zone to the Graveyard. Hero Heat (2200) will destroy Sapphire Pegasus (1800) and Bladedge (2600) will pierce Ruby Carbuncle (300) for the game." Bryan 6700: Erica 2700 – 400 – 2300 = 0.

Erica looked at the cards on the field for a moment and sighed. "I can't believe I lost to a freshman."

Instead of rub it in like he would with anyone else, Bryan said, "That's only because you didn't play your trump card. Who knows if I could have beaten Hamon?"

Erica gave him a surprised look, but then she remembered how obvious it must have been when she set the card aside completely. She just smiled back and told Bryan he won.

He touched her face and gently kissed her on the cheek. "That was one of the best breakups I ever had." He collected his cards, bid Erica good-night, then went upstairs to get some sleep.

Still a little struck by how sweet and tender Bryan could be, Erica sat on the couch for a few minutes longer before following Bryan's example and taking her deck back to her room.

* * *

It looks like Erica wants to take the safe, practical approach to dating. Who knows where she'll end up in the future?

It's that time again for Duel Academy's annual School Duel against Godwin Academy. Who will get to join the ranks of famous Duel Academy graduates like Judai Yuki and represent Duel Academy as Dr. West and headmaster Hamlin Spengler gamble on who has the more talented duelists?  
Next up: The Champion of Duel Academy


	9. Champion of Duel Academy

Chapter 9: Champion of Duel Academy

"The reason I gathered you all here," Headmaster West spoke to the faculty, "is that, as you no doubt recall, the time for the School Duel approaches. I have spoken to Headmaster Spengler of Godwin Academy, and he thinks the challenge would be more interesting if instead of merely sending our best duelists, we encourage a duel between our best first-year students."

"Let a freshman in the school duel?" Dr. Lankford interpreted. "Do you suppose that is wise?"

"It _would_ be more interesting," Maya agreed. "Of course it is always good to watch the strongest duelists in a struggle against one another, but think about how much the students could learn by having freshmen duel. It's not a universal rule, but freshmen tend to make more mistakes than upperclassmen, and more mistakes means more discussion."

"Maybe they'd be less likely to do so in such a high-glory duel," Baker suggested. "Even if they did, there's prime material for an easy essay from the spectators and whomever we choose for the duel."

Dr. Kerr, showing her social scientist side, pointed out, "That depends on the student. If the selected student truly is a champion-level duelist, social facilitation dictates he or she will get better in front of a crowd. And the School Duel draws the biggest crowd of the year."

"Sounds like reasonable consensus along the board," Dr. West said as he looked at each of the other faculty members. "So I guess the big question is which student will participate."

"I recommend Matthew Luther," Dave said without hesitation. Being Dr. West's aide-de-camp, he spent a lot of time sitting in on faculty meetings; being a powerful duelist and an intelligent guy, his insight was often well received.

"That's a very good call," Dr. Apple agreed. "He is the top-ranked freshman. He's defeated duelists from both the Yellow Dorm and the Blue Mansion, so he is certainly not unaccustomed to a challenging duel." He poked a few buttons on his PDA and added, "The database says he's batting 1.000 in official duels, including the incident with Elijah."

"I remember that," Baker said. "Elijah stole a Guardian's deck, right? I believe the record showed he summoned the god card, but Matt beat him, anyway."

Dave nodded. "He did."

Maya huffed and asked, "If he beat Obelisk then, why didn't he challenge one of the Guardians to get into the Guardian house?"

Dave explained, "He doesn't care about the god cards. He just wants to play, and owning a god card means he gets fewer duels because of all the restrictions." He put on a smile and added, "Besides, if he had a god card, he couldn't be considered for the School Duel, could he?"

Dr. Kerr stepped up and suggested, "What about Cary Strickland, Dave's cousin? She's also very talented. She put on quite a duel against Lucy during the Guardian Dueler challenge, only barely losing out when she faced Obelisk the Tormentor. I know Matt defeated Obelisk, but not against a true Guardian, and Lucy's effectiveness with Obelisk likely made the difference. I think she is just as strong as Matt. Wouldn't you agree, David?"

Dave nodded. "They are indeed both powerful."

Dr. Lankford looked to Dr. Apple and asked, "What's her record?"

Looking at his PDA already, Dr. Apple quickly replied, "She's batting .975, 316 for 324 including her Guardian challenge. Only eight losses is mightily impressive for a freshman."

"Then we should set up a duel between them," Dr. Lankford suggested. "It will be a fair, objective way to decide who gets the nomination. As with all disputes on the island, we'll let the duel sort it out."

"Agreed," Headmaster West decided. "We'll send notice to Matt and Cary that they each have two weeks to prepare to duel one another."

That was the scene in the administration building two weeks ago. Today was the result of two weeks practice and preparation on Cary's part. Matt, on the other hand, did nothing different from the usual: pull pranks, watch movies, and spend time on the basketball court.

"Knock, knock," Dr. Kerr said when she got to Matt's room. The door was sitting wide open. Matt still hadn't gotten a new roommate since Bryan moved out of the dorm, so he usually left the door open to invite visitors. He sometimes left cookies on the desk near the door for the same purpose; in fact, Dr. Kerr couldn't help snatching one.

"Morning, Dr. Kerr," he said through sit-ups. He was still wearing his pajama pants and no shirt. He spoke the number "One hundred" before flipping over and starting push ups.

Dr. Kerr waited to see if he was going to stop, but he didn't show any signs of it; she decided to speak anyway.

"You know what today is, right?"

"Uh, Groundhog Day?" She chuckled and told him that wasn't it. "Oh, right. It's the day you want me to prove that boys rule and girls drool." He stopped after a push up and wiped his hand across the floor before continuing. "Okay, maybe boys rule _and_ drool, but I still plan to win."

"I just wanted to remind you the duel is at nine. I hope you had breakfast, or you've got about a half hour to eat, anyway. Passing out is no acceptable excuse not to duel."

"I wouldn't skip a challenge," Matt told her. "I don't care how much I like her; today, Cary is a challenger."

"Good. See you at the stadium."

Kasumi and Lakisha came to Matt's room shortly after Dr. Kerr left. They already knew how well prepared Cary was, but they wanted to check in on Matt and see how he was doing. Kasumi's heart fluttered when she saw Matt shirtless… until Lakisha started jabbing her in the side; she wanted to make sure Kasumi saw it.

"Hey," Matt said when he finished push-ups. He jokingly asked, "You two here to weasel my secrets out of me to give Cary an edge? I hoped she was above sending spies."

"No woman is ever above using spies," Lakisha pointed out. "In fact, we're going to tell her you said that."

Matt grabbed a shirt from his closet and threw it on while saying, "Why not make up some stuff while you're at it? Tell her I started that rumor that she's really a dude."

"Did you really start a rumor like that?" Kasumi asked in surprise.

"No," Matt replied immediately, "but that joke will probably come back to bite me on the ass, won't it?"

"You're right, it will," Lakisha said assuredly. "But seriously, we came to see how you're doing because Kasumi was worried about you." Kasumi smacked Lakisha's arm, but instead of making her feel guilty, it only made Lakisha laugh.

"Is that true, Kas?"

Kasumi blushed horribly. "No! It's just a duel between friends. And obviously, you aren't going to throw the game just to let Cary participate in the School Duel."

"That's true," Matt replied. "I like your roommate well enough, but that's why I won't insult her by going easy on her." He closed the closet door while inside the closet for a moment, then emerged a moment later with his pajama pants in his hand and a pair of khakis on his legs. He tossed his pajama pants on the bed and looked confused. "Where'd I put my jacket?"

Kasumi smiled because she could see the jacket hanging on the end of the bunked beds right next to her. She giggled and motioned toward the bed with her head.

"Oh, thanks," Matt said as he grabbed the jacket and put it on. "So who are you rooting for?"

"Cary, far and away," Lakisha replied. "Girl power."

Matt smiled and turned to Kasumi. "Kas?"

Kasumi shook her head and blushed again. "I don't care. I like you both. You're both really good friends. But if I absolutely had to choose one of you… I'd say Cary."

"Roommate nepotism, eh?"

"Yes. Besides, a little part of me wants to see a girl representing the school."

"Then you only came here to psych me out, didn't you?" Lakisha asked if it was working. "No, but it was a nice try. Justin actually gave me an idea for a combo I really like. You can tell Cary to keep an eye out for my Dark Magician." Lakisha groaned that everyone already knew about that card.

The next voice didn't belong to a woman.

"Don't give them help!" Bryan walked into the room and feigned exasperation. He flailed his arms to sell the act, but also to make sure everyone got a good look at the black jacket he was so proud to wear. "They'll tell Cary all your deck's secrets, like the Dark Magician and the Dark Paladin and the way they unite."

Kasumi laughed at Bryan's failed attempt to give away Matt's secrets. Bryan, back to normal behavior, asked how she and Lakisha were doing, then _what_ they were doing and if they were trying to seduce Matt into giving them information.

"Unfortunately, he seems to be immune," Lakisha commented, looking at Kasumi as she did. Returning to the joke, she added, "It doesn't matter. Cary will still be able to kick his butt."

"We'll see," Matt replied. "How's Thomas? Should I assume by the fact that he didn't come with you that he's also rooting for Cary to win?"

Kasumi forced a smile. "He apologized, but we're not as close anymore. He's still grinding my nerves."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Matt replied. Instead of presenting his actual opinion of Thomas, he added, "He might yet mature past the jealousy thing as school goes on."

"Thanks," she replied softly. Lakisha grabbed Kasumi's arm and started to pull her toward the door. She hadn't planned for Bryan to show up.

"We're going to go meet up with Cary again. We'll see you at the stadium, studly."

Matt and Bryan both waved, then Bryan looked at Matt and repeated, "Studly?" He scoffed and said, "You were exercising when they came in again, weren't you? You're such a showoff with your rock-hard abs and your oddly hairless chest."

"Nice to know how you really feel. Why'd you come here again?"

Bryan laughed and said, "Obviously, I came to manipulate the outcome of the game. The odds are in your favor, and so I stand to make a lot of money by poisoning you and betting on Cary. Besides, the Guardians aren't technically allowed to visit School Duelists because they're afraid we might give you cards."

"But you talked your way up here because you're practically my brother?"

"Exactly. Now let's go shoot a few hoops and head over to the stadium." So much for taking breakfast as a priority.

The stadium was pretty full. All the students attended, minus a select few who couldn't care less and actually resisted school spirit, and many people from Kazuki attended, as well. This was not one of the televised duels, but a play-by-play was broadcasted over the Internet by none other than the nerdy minds of Justin Nussbaum and friends at the Academy tech center. Matt was actually surprised how popular dueling was considering it's just a card game, but then he remembered that ESPN—the _sports_ channel—airs poker tournaments; at least dueling with three-dimensional monsters involves some action.

Matt approached Cary and held his arms open. She stared at him as if to check his hands for a buzzer, then hesitantly accepted his hug in place of a handshake. His excuse was they were friends and a hug is friendlier than a handshake.

"You ready to lose?" Cary asked him.

"I'm always ready; it just hasn't happened yet."

She smiled and nodded. "Okay, smart guy. Let's do this."

Headmaster West announced the start of the duel. He reminded the audience what the stakes were and encouraged everyone to come out to the School Duel to support whichever duelist was named the representative of Duel Academy. Two games of rock-paper-scissors ended with Cary being granted the first play; they both picked scissors the first time, then she switched to rock while he played scissors again.

"I get to start this duel," Cary said. "I'll set one monster in defense mode."

"That's it? Well, I'll try to make a bigger play, then. This first card I'm going to summon will make you think Bryan helped me build my deck, but let me assure you that this was completely my idea."

Her curiosity piqued, Cary was shocked when Matt summoned Elemental Hero Prisma (4/1700/1000).

"This guy mimics a monster in my deck. All I have to do is show you a card from my Fusion Deck, like the Dark Paladin, and I can send one of the fusion material monsters to the Graveyard, like my Dark Magician. That allows Prisma to act like the Dark Magician until this turn is over. And I can offer my makeshift Dark Magician as Tribute to summon Dark Eradicator Warlock (7/2500/2100)."

Cary raised an eyebrow at a rarer form of the Dark Magician. "I suppose he has some powerful, magic-based effect?"

"You could say that. Every time one of us activates a spell card, you take 1000 points of damage. Just for the sake of using it now, I'll play Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two more cards from my deck and inflicts 1000 LP damage to you. Now my Dark Warlock (2500) can attack and probably destroy your monster."

"He did," Cary agreed. "Mine was just a Treeborn Frog (1/100/100)."

"Good. I'll end my turn." Matt 8000: Cary 8000 – 1000 = 7000.

Cary looked over her hand and spent noticeably longer considering her moves than Matt ever did. She wasn't being reckless about things when she was going to take damage for every spell card; her priority was getting the Warlock (2500) off the field.

"Because there are no spells or traps on my field, my Treeborn Frog (100) gets revived during my Standby Phase. Now I'll take the hit long enough to play Ancient Rules, a spell that lets me Special Summon a Normal monster that's level five or higher; I choose Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry (8/2900/2000)."

"Simorgh?" Matt repeated. "Isn't that an effect monster?" He looked at the duel monitor that shows each player a card's details and said, "Yeah! It even says right there, 'Winged Beast/Effect.'" He continued reading and his enthusiasm faded. "Oh. 'This card is treated as a Normal Monster while in your hand.' Boy, that was a good move."

"Thanks. Now I'll summon Hand of Nephthys (2/600/600), then Tribute it and my Treeborn Frog to summon from my deck the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys (8/2400/1600). Now I'm ready to attack, first with Simorgh (2900) to destroy your Warlock (2500), and then Nephthys (2400) to attack you directly. I'll place a card facedown and end my turn." Matt 8000 – 400 – 2400 = 5200: Cary 7000 – 1000 = 6000.

"Oddly enough, the duel's still about even," Matt commented, "except that you've got two big monsters there and I don't. But I can handle that, I think. I'll summon Crystal Seer (1/100/100) and activate Magical Dimension; by sending Crystal Seer to the Graveyard, I get to summon Dark Magician of Chaos (8/2800/2600) and destroy your Simorgh (2900)."

"I'll chain the trap called Shift; it lets me redirect your effect to my Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. It gets destroyed instead of Simorgh."

Matt looked over the field. "Hmm. That makes things a little more difficult, but let's see what I can do. First, summoning Dark Magician of Chaos lets me retrieve a Spell from my Graveyard, and I'll take Pot of Greed. Then I'll go ahead and play it now to draw two more cards. And, uh… Simorgh (2900) is still too big, so I'll put a card facedown and end my turn."

Cary grinned. "It's my Standby Phase again, and because you destroyed my Sacred Phoenix (2400) was destroyed by a card effect, it gets revived; this kind of Special Summon also brings the effect of destroying all spells and traps on the field."

"Uh oh," Matt uttered.

"Yeah. As a bonus, my Treeborn Frog (100) also revives because I have no spells or traps on my field. Now I'll summon Swift Birdman Joe (6/2300/1400) without a Tribute because Simorgh's effect reduces the Tributes for all wind monsters by one. Starting with Simorgh (2900), I'll send all my monsters to attack you. Then I'll set a card and end my turn." Matt 5200 – 100 – 2400 – 2300 – 100 = 300: Cary 6000.

"Holy crap," Matt uttered. "I really need to step this up a notch. I'll discard a card from my hand to Special Summon The Tricky (5/2000/1200) from my hand in defense mode. Because I discarded Dandylion, I get to summon two Fluff Tokens (1/0/0) to my field, also in defense mode. Then I'll set one more monster and another card and cross my fingers."

"Really? That's your big strategy?"

"No. But my big strategy keeps getting thrown off by _your_ big strategy."

Cary smiled. "Good. I'll have Treeborn Frog (100) and Birdman Joe (2300) attack your Fluff Tokens (0), then let Nephthys (2400) attack The Tricky (1200). Finally, Simorgh (2900) will attack your facedown monster."

"My monster is Apprentice Magician (2/400/800), who lets me set a Magician of Faith (1/300/400) from my deck."

"You last one more turn," Cary noted. "Go ahead."

Matt crossed his fingers as he drew. "Not a great draw, but if I flip Magician of Faith, her flip effect lets me pull Pot of Greed out of my Graveyard and play it again to draw two more cards." He let out a sigh of relief. "That's better. I'll summon Magician's Valkyria (4/1600/1800) and send her to attack your Treeborn Frog (100). But I'll also activate Magician's Circle, which lets us each summon a spellcaster with 2000 or fewer AP; I choose to summon another Magician's Valkyria (1600)."

"Another one? Great," Cary groaned. "I'll summon Hand of Nephthys (2/600/600) in defense mode."

"I'll set two cards and end my turn." Matt 300: Cary 6000 – 1500 = 4500.

Cary drew her card and groaned loudly. Valkyria's effect prevents any other spellcaster on Matt's field from being targeted, and when two Valkyrias are on the field simultaneously, Cary can't select _any_ spellcasters on Matt's field as an attack target.

"My Treeborn Frog (100) revives again, but I'll send it and Hand of Nephthys to the Graveyard to summon another Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys (8/2400/1600). I'll also set a card."

Matt pretended to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Now I've got something in mind. I'll Tribute my Magician of Faith to summon Dark Magician Girl (6/20002300/1700). Now I'll play Sage's Stone, which can only activate when Dark Magician Girl is on the field; I can summon another Dark Magician (7/2500/2100) from my deck. Now I'll play Magical Blast, a spell that inflicts 200 points of damage to you for each spellcaster on my field."

Cary scoffed. "Crap."

"I'll destroy Birdman Joe (2300) with Dark Magician (2500). Now I'll finish my turn by activating Secret Village of the Spellcasters; as long as this Field Spell card is on the field, then as long as I have a face-up spellcaster and you don't, you can't activate spell cards." Matt 300: Cary 4500 – 800 – 200 = 3500.

"You've got to be kidding me," Cary groaned. "Of all the lucky draws…"

"I know."

Cary pulled a card from her hand and said, "I was bluffing. I'll summon Apprentice Magician (2/400/800), a spellcaster. Then I'll play Dark Hole, a spell that destroys every monster on the field."

"Oh, crap," Matt scoffed. "Now the game is over and it won't look like I deserved it."

"What are you talking about?" Cary asked. "Now that I'll set two cards, I'll have three cards facedown, and both my Nephthys monsters will revive next turn. What have you got that's so good?"

"Only the Shadowpriestess of Ohm (4/1700/1600), a monster who can attack _and_ inflict damage with her effect."

Cary countered, "I'll activate Torrential Tribute, another card that destroys all monsters on the field."

"I thought you might. That's why I waited to play Swing of Memories, a spell that lets me revive a Normal monster from my Graveyard; say hello again to the Dark Magician (2500). I'll equip him with Megamorph to double my Magician's (5000) AP. I'll send him to attack you directly."

Cary shook her head and said, "Nuh uh. I'll play Scapegoat to summon four Sheep Tokens (1/0/0) to my field in defense mode. No direct attacks here."

"Who needs a direct attack?" Matt asked. "I'll activate my Ebon Arrow, a trap that reduces Dark Magician's (4500) AP by 500 and gives him piercing damage for the turn." He smiled at Cary and said, "I'm betting that facedown card is a bluff, or something that would help if your Phoenix destroyed it. But it's useless now, I think."

She groaned. "Dark Coffin. Would have destroyed your Dark Magician and left you wide open."

"Good thing the duel already ended, then." Matt 300: Cary 3500 – 4500 = 0.

Matt offered Cary another hug—a stronger, longer one—and she grudgingly accepted. He congratulated her on almost beating him; it was certainly the closest he could remember ever coming to a loss.

"You'd better win this School Duel or else you'll make me look bad," she threatened.

"Don't worry about that," Matt said. "What could they possibly throw at me I can't take care of?"

* * *

Go ahead and start guessing the relationships if you think you have them figured out. In the next chapter, I'll reveal who I see Bryan with.

As the School Duel approaches, preparations take a chunk of time out of Matt's schedule, but it doesn't stop everyone else from leading their own lives; Bryan defends his god card against a challenge by a member of Team Lockdown.  
Next up: The Purpose of Team Lockdown


	10. The Purpose of Team Lockdown

Chapter 10: The Purpose of Team Lockdown

"Are you sure that was awesome?" Matt asked Bryan. He went back to the Guardian house after his duel with Cary with plans to join the Guardians for lunch. "I almost lost. I can't believe I came so close."

"You still won," Bryan reminded him. "So what if Cary's almost better than you?"

"Thanks a lot," Matt scoffed. "I can't believe she even stumped the strategy I was ready to steal from Justin. I had to resort to a strategy I've already used."

Lucy made a face and asked, "Do you actually _have_ strategies you haven't already played?" That was a good point; having dueled more than 350 times since coming to Duel Academy, Matt pretty much used every Dark Magician strategy there is multiple times. The only time he got a new strategy was when he changed the composition of his deck, meaning he now had exactly one strategy he never played before.

"Admittedly, it's not like having a god card to win every game for me…"

"Hey," Bryan snapped, "if you had a card this cool, you'd want to use it all the time, too. I even carry around two decks now: one built around Uria and one without him. I have to agree that sometimes it's pretty boring to play a god card all the time."

"Exactly," Matt said. "Anyway, I'll challenge her again and beat her better next time."

"That's if you get free time," Justin pointed out. When asked for elaboration, he explained, "Now that you've been selected to represent Duel Academy at the School Duel, a lot of people are probably going to want to try to prove themselves against you, especially some of the high-ranked guys who are still upset because a freshman gets the job instead of them."

"I didn't think about that," Matt said.

"It drove Erica crazy last year when she played the School Duel," Lucy described.

Bryan's ears perked up. "Erica was in the School Duel last year? Did she win?"

"Absolutely. She had one of the quickest wins in School Duel history." Bryan was pleased to hear that, knowing that he won a duel against her. "She also said there was a problem with everyone wanting to give her their cards to duel with."

"Why?"

Justin answered, "That way people can live vicariously through their cards during the School Duel."

"By the way, bro," Bryan said. "Flame Wingman and I want to help you win it."

Matt cracked a grin and said, "Nice try. Elemental Heroes hardly slide right into a Dark Magician deck. I honestly don't think anyone has any cards that would fit straight into my deck, except maybe Lucy."

Lucy shook her head. "There's a difference between a spellcaster deck and a Spell Counter deck; your deck isn't really built for the counters except on Defender and the Skilled Magicians." Matt said she had a good point and hoped that meant she wasn't going to hound him to give him cards.

"So on one hand, a bunch of disappointed people who think I'm overrated are likely to challenge me constantly to prove I'm a fraud, and on the other hand, a bunch of people who know that I am talented will want me to showcase my talents with their cards in order for them to take a little piece of my glory if their cards see the field."

"But on the other hand," Bryan added, "you get to duel against one of the best duelists from _another_ school in order to determine if you're really that good or if the people here are just worse duelists than the reputation suggests. And three hands are better than one."

"We're supposed to be the best school in the world, right? That's why we get the god cards."

"Seto Kaiba was also supposed to be the best duelist in history, but Yugi always found a way to beat him," Justin commented. "Sometimes, there's just someone who's better. Besides, some other schools have lower tuition, and sometimes the money is what decides which school a student applies to."

"Fair enough. Anyone got a lead on the guy I'm going to duel?"

Justin shook his head. "No way. The headmaster at Godwin Academy is incredibly secretive when it comes to the School Duel. The website doesn't have _any_ mention of the duelist who will participate; he even hides the information about cards used by previous duelists."

"Wow. That's obsessive," Bryan commented. "Do they lose every year?"

"Just about," Justin answered, "but we don't actually compete against Godwin Academy during every School Duel. They are the biggest rival, but we only face them during the fall semester. In the spring, we alternate competitors between Hawkins University and the Otogi School of Gaming Arts; Otogi doesn't specialize in dueling, but they offer Duel Monsters as a major and have a pretty competitive program."

That just seemed to depress Bryan. "I won't be eligible for those duels, either, will I?"

Lucy patted him on the shoulder and said, "Sorry. As long as you have Uria, you'll be ineligible to participate in interschool duels."

"Here's the real kick in the teeth," Justin said. "Each duelist can only be selected to represent the school one time."

Now it was Matt's turn to react. "Really? You mean I have to waste my one School Duel as a freshman? I can guarantee you that I'll get better as I go through school, and then I'll have a _really_ big desire to show off."

"I guess you'll have to settle for building a reputation all the way from your freshman year," Justin told him. The group discussed the ups and downs of such a reputation. On the one hand, building a reputation as a freshman can catch a lot more attention and build a big fan base; on the other hand, there will always be people who are convinced he's a one-shot wonder or that he peaked too early and will never be a truly talented duelist. The only way to deal with the latter is to prove them wrong, which can take a lifetime—Tony Romo still has critics despite all the games he's won.

Because Dave, Andy, and Erica had a Synchro class to attend, the rest of the group decided to head to the upperclassman dining hall for lunch. Bryan had access because he was a Guardian Dueler—which is better than being an upperclassman—and Matt had access for being surrounded by upperclassmen and because he's the school representative against Godwin Academy.

In the middle of lunch, Bryan suddenly freaked. He checked out his PDA and realized, "I have a duel!"

"Now?" Matt asked and looked at his watch.

Bryan hurriedly wiped his face. "I forgot because of your stupid exciting match this morning. I'm supposed to duel Bobby Loper-someone at the Blue Arena."

"For Uria?"

"I guess so. Anyway, I've got to run, but I'm not done eating."

Matt smiled. "Want me to go duel him in your place?"

"Thanks, but I cherish my challenges. I'd love it if you could wrap up this sandwich and put it in the fridge at the house, though."

Justin nodded. "I can handle that. Good luck in your duel. Bobby's the senior member of Team Lockdown."

"I don't care who he plays for. I'll beat him." He jumped up from the table and bumped fists with Matt before departing. The guys would go watch Bryan duel, but there was no reason for all of them to go hungry. Lucy, on the other hand, didn't eat quite so much and was ready to leave in order to escort Bryan to the arena.

"You didn't have to leave," Bryan told her.

She smiled back. "I want someone to be there to support you. Most of the Blues hold a grudge against you for being a freshman who's already better than they are." She stepped back and took a coy look at him. "Not that you wouldn't be able to handle yourself if someone has a real problem with you."

"Thank you," he said with a grin. "You're not so bad yourself."

Lucy blushed. She enjoyed walking with Bryan in silence for a moment, then she offered, "I know Bobby Loper. I've seen him challenge Justin."

"I should have asked Justin what his strategy is. Oh, well; it'll be more fun this way."

"You've seen him challenge Yul, remember? It was right before your duel." That rang a bell, although Bryan wasn't paying attention to Bobby's deck at the time; he wanted to figure out how to beat Yul's deck.

"Oh, yeah. He's part of that Team Lockdown? They're the ones who try to freeze the field in various ways, right?"

"Yes. The cards they play tend to stop certain effects from you; Bobby might try to stop you from summoning monsters. I've also seen him try to stop his opponents from using spells and traps. If he managed to stop all three of them, you'd be screwed."

"Awesome. That's got to be a really tough combo to play, though."

Lucy nodded. "Absolutely. In general, the more you limit your opponent's moves, the tougher it is to set up. But the Lockdown duelists are remarkably skilled at doing so. Keep an eye on the field, and if you get the chance, I recommend taking him out quickly."

Bryan put his arm around her neck playfully and said, "It's so sweet of you to worry about me."

The arena was not usually packed in the afternoons, especially considering how few students live in the Blue Mansion, but whenever people knew a Guardian was scheduled to duel, they tended to head to whichever arena was open for it. Maybe a third of the seats in the arena were filled with students eager to see Bryan play his god card.

Lucy picked out a seat in the front row and waited while Bryan shook hands and did the respect thing with Bobby Loper, a senior member of Team Lockdown and a student of the Blue Mansion for two years.

"I hear you're a member of Team Lockdown," Bryan told Bobby. "I'm looking forward to dueling you."

"It's no secret what my strategy is," Bobby told him, "but that doesn't help people win against me. My strategy is almost impeccable."

Bryan grinned. "Good. I plan to find the seam between _is_ and _almost_."

"Don't get overconfident. You got luckier against Yul than I did, but that doesn't mean you can beat me, too."

"Good point. Let's do this, then." Bryan won rock-paper-scissors and chose to let Bobby take the first move.

"I'll set three cards and summon UFO Turtle (4/1400/1200)."

"Attack mode? You must be baiting me in order to use your Turtle's effect. I may have to give in to that. I'll play Polymerization to fuse Elemental Heroes Bubbleman and Burstinatrix into Elemental Hero Steam Healer (5/1800/1000). When he attacks and destroys your monster, I gain LP equal to your monster's AP."

"When UFO Turtle (1400) is destroyed in battle, I get to summon a fire monster from my deck; I'll summon Raging Flame Sprite (3/100/200) and play Inferno Reckless Summon to play two more Raging Flame Sprites (100) from my deck. You'd get to summon multiples of your monsters, except you can't because your Fusion deck isn't affected by Inferno Reckless Summon."

"I don't need more monsters," Bryan commented. "Mine is bigger. I'll set two cards and end my turn." Bryan 8000 + 1400 = 9400: Bobby 8000 – 400 = 7600.

Bobby looked at his cards and realized he was almost ready.

"Before you start," Bryan said, "I'll activate The Eye of Truth, a Continuous Trap that lets me see your hand." Bryan took a look at Bobby's cards on the display: Gravity Axe – Grarl, Swords of Concealing Light, and Shadowslayer. He tried to think about what kind of lockdown Bobby could put together with those cards. "Oh, before I forget… I'll also activate Bad Reaction to Simochi, another Continuous Trap that reverses all efforts to increase your LP. With The Eye of Truth, you gain 1000 LP each Standby Phase, but with Bad Reaction to Simochi, that 1000-point increase is switched to a 1000-point decrease."

"Whatever. I'll send all three of my Raging Flame Sprites (100) to attack you directly; when they do, they each gain 1000 AP. That ends my turn." Bryan 9400 – 100 – 100 – 100 = 9100: Bobby 7600 – 1000 = 6600.

Bryan drew. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Wildheart (4/1500/1600) and send him to attack one of your Sprites (1100). Steam Healer (1800) will attack another. That ends my turn." Bryan 9100 + 1100 = 10,200: Bobby 6600 – 400 – 700 = 5500.

When Bobby drew and took 1000 LP damage, he was forced to show Bryan his Kaiser Colosseum by the effect of The Eye of Truth.

"Now my strategy can be known. I'll start by activating my facedown Ojama Trio to summon three Ojama Tokens (1/0/1000) to your side of the field in defense mode. Then I'll play Kaiser Colosseum; according this the effect of this Continuous Spell, you cannot summon a monster if it would put more monsters on your field than on mine."

"I've already got more," Bryan pointed out. "In fact, I can't summon a monster right now because I already have five."

"Your current monsters are not affected. When I summon my Shadowslayer (4/1400/200), you'll still have more monsters than I and will be unable to summon more. Then I'll play Swords of Concealing Light to put all your monsters into facedown defense mode and prevent them from changing battle positions for two turns. Next is my facedown Judgment of the Desert; any monster flipped face-up from here on can't change positions. Now I'll use my facedown Ceasefire, a Trap that flips all monsters on the field face-up and hurts you by 500 LP for each effect monster on the field."

"Does that include the Ojama Tokens?"

Bobby shook his head. "No. They aren't technically effect monsters. But the benefit of Shadowslayer (1400) is that he gets to attack directly when all your monsters are in defense mode, and Raging Flame Sprite (1100) already gets to attack directly. That ends my turn." Bryan 10,200 – 2000 – 1400 – 1100 = 5700: Bobby 5500 – 1000 = 4500.

"Wow," Bryan uttered. "That was a big damage turn." He looked over his hand and the cards on Bobby's field. "I'll play Graceful Charity to draw three cards into my hand and discard two. And there's one little thing you overlooked with that Judgment of the Desert; Wildheart (1500) isn't affect by _any_ trap cards. He can still switch to attack mode. Now I'll set two more cards and end my turn."

"No attack? I'm shocked."

"No, you aren't," Bryan retorted. "You know I'm as smart as you are. Shadowslayer's effect only works if all my monsters are in defense mode, but if I destroy it, it's more difficult to counteract that Kaiser Colosseum card."

Bobby scoffed. He actually didn't think Bryan was that smart. During his Draw Phase, Bobby drew Rocket Jumper.

"I'll summon that Rocket Jumper (3/1000/800), and I'll equip Gravity Axe – Grarl to increase Shadowslayer's (1900) AP by 500, plus monsters can still not change battle positions with the Axe on the field. I'll have Shadowslayer (1900) destroy Wildheart (1500), meaning you only have monsters in defense mode again; Rocket Jumper (1000) can attack directly, as can Raging Flame Sprite (2100)."

"I'll chain my Labyrinth of Nightmare to your End Phase," Bryan said. "At the end of each of our turns, all our monsters change battle positions." Bryan 5700 – 400 – 1000 – 2100 = 2200: Bobby 4500 – 1000 = 3500.

"For my own turn, I'll make no plays."

Bobby scowled. Bryan's monsters all switched to attack mode, including the Ojama Tokens (0), but his monsters were stuck in defense mode until the end of the turn. And instead of drawing a new monster, he drew Swords of Revealing Light, meaning he was still hurt by The Eye of Truth and Bad Reaction to Simochi.

"I'll activate Swords of Revealing Light to prevent you from attacking me for three more turns." When his turn ended, his monsters switched back to attack mode. Bryan 2200: Bobby 3500 – 1000 = 2500.

"That's what you think. I'll activate Gozen Match so we each remove monsters from our field until our monsters are only one attribute. I get rid of all three Ojama Tokens because they are light-attribute and Steam Healer is water, and because they aren't being destroyed, I don't take the extra 300 points of damage that Ojama Tokens are notorious for."

"I'll keep my fire monster: Raging Flame Sprite (3100)."

"Good. Now I'll place one more card facedown and end my turn." Steam Healer switched back to defense mode.

"The duel's over," Bobby announced. He drew Black Tyranno. "I'll send Raging Flame Sprite (3100) to attack you directly one last time."

"That's not good enough," Bryan announced. "I'll play Mystic Wok to send Steam Healer (1800) to the Graveyard and increase my LP by his AP. I'm going to get one more turn."

"Fine. I'm done." Raging Flame Sprite (200) switched to defense mode. Bryan 2200 + 1800 – 3100 = 900: Bobby 2500.

Bryan grinned. "Now that I finally have fewer monsters than you, I can send The Eye of Truth, Bad Reaction to Simochi, and Labyrinth of Nightmare to the Graveyard to summon Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (10/03000/03000)." Bryan just sat there and watched the holographic version of his god card for a moment. "Sorry. I never get tired of seeing that. Anyway, I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Swords of Revealing Light."

"Is that the best you have?" Bobby asked. "You can't beat me like that."

Bryan laughed. "I disagree. You see, Uria (3000) has _a lot_ more AP than Raging Flame Sprite (200) has DP. All I can do this turn is attack her and destroy her, but can you really do anything worse to me next turn?"

Bobby drew and didn't have to show Bryan his card. He set his card facedown and told him, "I can now."

Bryan cracked a grin when the turn shifted back to him. "Really? Let's pretend I believe you; Uria (3000) can destroy one set card on your field, and you can't chain to this effect. No matter what your card was, it won't help now. Uria (3000) will attack directly to end the duel." Bryan 900: Bobby 2500 – 3000 = 0.

"Dammit," Bobby cried out. "I had you!"

"And you lost me. Join the friggin' club, dude. You're not the only person I've ever beaten." Bryan scoffed as he got up from the terminal and the duel tech student logged his win. He quickly walked over to Lucy and said, "I've never seen someone get that upset over a card game."

"People get crazy when the god cards are involved," she assured him. "And it only gets worse each time a person comes close to winning. You might want to reconsider some of the cards in that deck."

"Yeah, maybe. It was way too clunky out there. I put this thing together in twenty minutes. It needs more Elemental Heroes. It was good enough for today, though."

Lucy wondered to herself if it worked because he was incredibly lucky or if the god card really did amplify his dueling prowess as the rumors said. Either way, Bryan was a force to reckon with, and he was so cute when he waits until the last minute to pull off a win.

* * *

It's finally time for the School Duel against Godwin Academy. After countless minutes of training, Matt is finally ready to test his mettle against an international opponent whose deck gives Matt a constant hand advantage, yet also gives him constant trouble. In this battle of the first-year duelists, will Matt keep his undefeated record alive?  
Next up: The School Duel


	11. The School Duel

Chapter 11: The School Duel

Matt sat in his room looking at his cards. He had them all scattered out across the table so that each and every card was face-up and visible. After weeks of running new card combinations against Cary and Kasumi and winning each time, he felt pretty confident that he could beat any deck.

Finishing up yet another duel with Cary in which he barely had any LP remaining, he sat back and commented how he hoped the Godwin student wouldn't use so much spell/trap destruction in his strategy as a phoenix deck. _And_ it'd be nice if Kasumi would follow him on stage and keep rubbing his shoulders like she currently was. Lakisha started it as a way to keep him loose for the match—despite his comment that he's not boxing or doing physical activity and the duel wasn't until tomorrow—then she stepped aside and asked Kasumi to take over. Matt thought it was pointless, but it sure felt nice.

"Don't you two ever have to do any prefect duties?" Matt asked Kasumi and Cary. "How do you have such an open schedule you can spend so much time with me?"

"Women cause less trouble than the boys, I suppose," Kasumi suggested. "The worst thing we have to deal with is enforcing the curfew."

"I have to deal with constant alcohol violations," Matt groaned. "_And_ curfew issues, so it isn't just the guys; the girls just tend to come to _my_ floor to break the rules."

"I don't break the rules," Leon Verbeet commented. Leon was a twenty-three-year-old freshman. Most students who don't get accepted to Duel Academy go to another school and never reapply, but Leon continued applying to Duel Academy for years until he was finally accepted. He's a skinny guy with short, blond hair and what looked like a chipmunk under his nose; his bushy moustache was easily his most recognizable feature. Leon spent time with Matt because he seemed like one of the most mature freshmen, and he was obviously a talented duelist; Leon hoped to pick up some things just by being around.

"It's not a universal rule," Matt replied. He reached up and put his hand on Kasumi's. "That's good, Kas. Any looser and I'll fall apart at the seams." Kasumi stopped rubbing his shoulders, but she kept her hand in place for an extra moment until he removed his first.

"Luther!" a booming voice called from the hallway. Heavy footsteps followed the voice and preceded the appearance of former officer Baker's hefty form, dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt and sports coat. "Good. You look ready."

"I am," Matt replied. "Is he here already?"

"Corbin called and said he and our Godwin visitors are leaving the airport now. You should be among the people to greet them. Let's get to the visitor's dorm."

The plane arrived from Katsuya at six o'clock bearing three faculty members and forty students from Godwin Academy. After a half hour to get everyone through customs, Dr. West greeted the visitors with a luxury Kaiba Corp. bus to ferry everyone to the Duel Academy campus and the accommodations offered by the visitor's dorm, the Medici Building. They were greeted there by a group of students who volunteered previously to help the visitors move into the dorm for their two-day visit, and by Matt.

Dr. West led a roly-poly man with white hair around his thinning hairline. Dr. Hamlin Spengler was an old man by this point in life, but he got that way by holding the headmaster position at Godwin Academy for the longest term in the academy's history. Under Headmaster Spengler's guidance, Godwin Academy expanded its curriculum by three hundred percent while simultaneously reducing its budget expenditures and improving the quality of instructors on campus. Graduates under his guidance include a number of champion tournament duelists and members of many professional duel league teams.

"We appreciate you making the trip out here," Dr. West spoke to Dr. Spengler. They greeted Baker, who already knew Dr. Spengler quite well, and then turned their attention to the unassuming boy waiting patiently to be introduced. "This is Matthew Luther, the young man we've selected to represent Duel Academy in this contest."

"Very nice to meet you," Spengler said with his hand extended. He spoke with a strong English accent. "Then you are the lucky lad who gets to duel my champion first-year."

"That's right," Matt said. "Where is he?"

It took a few minutes to locate him in the crowd of people eager to get into the dorm and unpack for dinner, but one of the professors brought forth the Godwin representative. He had an average body shape for a college student, but he looked much more physically mature than a freshman. His facial hair made him look like a dark-skinned Santa Claus and his eyes suggested a condescending attitude.

"Greetings. I'm Garry Daher, champion of Godwin Academy."

"Wow," Matt said as he noted how strong Garry's handshake was. "You're older than I thought you'd be."

"I grew up quickly," he replied curtly. Garry's accent sounded Arabic.

Headmaster Spengler made clear he wished to get straight to the duel contest first thing in the morning. He was excited to see how Matt rated against Garry. Garry confessed he was hungry now and exhausted from the flight, but he was ready to duel anytime. Matt was also eager to go, but he wanted to wait for Garry to get a full night's sleep and put up a good fight.

Now more excited to duel than ever, Matt did exactly what he always did to prepare for a big duel; he went to the Guardian house and spent a few hours playing video games with Bryan and the Guard Trio.

When Saturday morning rolled around, six guys from the Red Dorm accompanied Matt to the breakfast lounge, all excited about the fact that a freshman would get to duel in the School Duel. Almost everyone in the dorm stopped by the table to wish him luck at some point—a lot of people Matt hadn't spoken to since freshman orientation. His first feeling of being overwhelmed by this duel had nothing to do with cards, but with everyone trying to load more and more pressure on his shoulders. As soon as Cary came by to wish him luck, Matt managed to do some fancy wordsmithing to fake that Cary wanted to talk to him alone just to extricate himself from the swarm.

"Are you pretending we're dating?" she asked him.

He held her hand and led her to the side of the lounge to get away from everyone else. Their conversation was pointless, but at least it was quieter.

"I'll fake anything to get out of that crowd."

"You're not going to make me kiss you, are you? I think my throwing up would blow your cover."

Matt smiled widely and pulled Cary into a hug. "That's why I love you so much." He spent a couple more minutes talking to her alone before rejoining the other guys to head to the main duel stadium, deflecting questions about his relationship with Cary the whole way. Luckily they met up with Bryan and Justin on the way.

The School Duel was entirely sold out. All Academy students and faculty got free admission, but all the wealthy or lucky duel fans who obtained tickets also arranged transportation to the island to see the duel. To give an idea how important the School Duel was to the entertainment field, an ESPN news crew was there with several cameras to film the whole duel and broadcast it around the world.

Of course, that led to countless jokes about whether or not dueling actually qualified as a sport; think about poker and bowling before trying to answer the implied question.

Outside of the arena, Dr. West spoke with Dave while the crew was finishing their setup and the audience was being seated by the ushers.

"How well do you know Matt?" Dr. West asked.

"Well enough to call him a friend," Dave answered.

"How do you think he'd respond if I told him that Headmaster Spengler bent the rules?"

"What do you mean?"

Dr. West sighed. "I chose a freshman to participate in this duel because Hamlin said he wanted us to select first-year students, but whereas I interpreted 'first-year' colloquially, Hamlin interpreted it literally."

"Then Garry really _is_ older than we thought he was," Dave noted. "He looks my age. Is he?"

"Yes," Dr. West replied. "Not only is he actually a senior, he really is the champion of Godwin Academy, ranked number one in the school. A transfer student from Otogi School for the Gaming Arts, in his first year, is the champion. Hamlin probably recruited him specifically for this duel. After all, we always gamble on this duel."

"How important is the prize?" Dave asked.

Dr. West stammered and seemed hesitant to answer that question.

Dave answered the implied question by saying, "Even if you tell Matt the whole situation, he won't back down. He wants to be the King of Games, and he won't get it if you pull him out of this duel. I expect knowing he's dueling a senior would only increase his enthusiasm. If you told him he had to duel _me_ right now, he'd be ready to go."

"But he's their champion."

"Maybe, but Matt is our own Duel Academy phenomenon. He seeks all challenges, and if you're worried about how well he'll do, I sincerely doubt even this senior will be able to push him too hard. Matt is far from flawless, but I've never seen such a lucky duelist in my life. Even the Guardians don't get so lucky with their draws."

Dr. West hummed, then said. "Alright. We'll wait until after the duel to tell him about Garry. No sense psyching him out, just in case you're wrong and he only _acts_ confident in front of other people."

Matt arrived with his entourage after a short time. He wore his red Duel Academy jacket proudly and even borrowed Justin's Duel Disk for the match—Justin was able to change the electronic code on the Duel Disk in order to register Matt as the duelist; he would change himself back to the registered duelist afterward, but this way the electronic records showed Matt as the duelist attached to this specific Duel Disk console.

"I'm glad to see you looking so well," Dr. West told Matt. "Are you ready for this duel? I don't mean to psych you out, but the pride of many duelists is riding on the outcome of this match."

"I'm ready," Matt said, never breaking his smile. "You can bet that I'm going to wipe the floor with that guy."

Dr. West nodded, feeling somewhat reassured by Matt's confident response. "Okay then. Let's go get you set up." He nodded to Matt's friends and reminded them they could hook up with Matt after the duel. Matt followed Dr. West to the stage, but Dave stopped Bryan for a moment.

"What's up?"

"I thought you should know Garry Daher from Godwin Academy is actually a senior transfer student. That's what Spengler meant when he said he wanted the duel to be between 'first-years.'"

"I knew he looked too old," Bryan said. "Does that mean the duel is off?"

"No. I told Dr. West to let Matt duel him anyway."

"Good. He'd want it that way."

Dave nodded. "Yeah. And to be honest, I want to see for myself just how good he really is."

"Should I go ahead and tell him?" Justin asked. He commented that he could easily send a message to Matt's PDA. Then the question became whether it would be better for Matt to _know_ he's facing a senior or if he'd be more excited to find out later.

"We'll tell him after he wins," Bryan decided. "He'll be more stoked that way."

After getting Matt set up, Dr. West turned over the reins of the duel arena to Dr. Lankford and sat down in the stands next to Headmaster Spengler. He sat in quiet for a moment before he asked:

"You wouldn't happen to be bitter about last year's defeat, would you?"

"Come now, Corbin," Spengler said. "You think the reason I chose Garry is because that little girl got lucky in last year's duel? How shallow. I chose Garry because he is far and away my best first-year student. He's the only student in my entire Academy who is undefeated."

"Undefeated?" Dr. West repeated. "That's ludicrous."

"Now, now," Spengler taunted with a nasty smirk on his face. "Don't tell me you wish to back out on our wager. The winner gets any one request of the loser."

"No," Dr. West said hesitantly, still seeing Matt's enthusiasm in his mind. "I don't want to back out."

"Good. Because I know full well what you have hidden at this school, and I want them. As soon as Garry defeats your little freshman, those cards will be mine."

Dr. West started experiencing noticeable stress symptoms at this point. He was genuinely nervous that if Matt lost this duel, the Guardian Duelers would lose their purpose and Duel Academy might lose possession of the god cards, cards that were entrusted to the students of the school by Seto Kaiba when he founded the Academy decades ago.

Despite all that, Dr. West remained oddly calm. He told Spengler, "Your student may be good, but don't count out my student. He is as powerful a new duelist as any I've seen."

"I imagine that's true, but he's just a freshman," Spengler countered. "It's not like he's another Seto Kaiba."

Dr. Lankford completed the introduction to the duel and presented the rules for a match, including a list of the cards forbidden from this match. Although it may seem silly to forbid cards for an interschool duel, the whole purpose was to discover which school had the more talented duelists, and limiting the powerful cards they could play was the way to do that.

Bryan spread word through the stands pretty quickly that Garry was actually a senior. The Duel Academy students were not happy with that deceit, but the objections remained nothing more than quiet rumblings for the time being.

Matt activated the Duel Disk on his arm and watched the hologram projectors surrounding the field flicker as they responded to the signal. Matt was randomly selected to take the first turn.

"Let's do this. I'll start by summoning Skilled White Magician (4/1700/1900) and setting two cards."

This was when Matt learned the caveat to a Duel Disk; although it is portable and allows one to duel anywhere, the hologram projectors are not as powerful when they are not in a contained field, and so the image is a little less opaque and solid. As far as holograms go, however, they are still impressive and put on quite the show during a duel, and Matt was still thrilled to see a life-sized version of his spellcaster.

Garry was a rather quiet duelist, hardly speaking as he performed each step of his turn. He drew his card and silently looked over his hand for a full thirty seconds as he planned carefully the next several steps of the duel.

Finally he said, "I will summon Snipe Hunter (4/1500/600) and activate his effect, targeting your Skilled White Magician (1700)." The effect of Snipe Hunter is as follows: Garry first discarded a card from his hand, and then he rolled a six-sided die to gamble the chance of destroying Matt's monster. Instead of rolling an actual die, the duel arena generated a holographic die and rolled it randomly and independently. Consistent with Snipe Hunter's effect, the die revealed a "2," resulting in the destruction of Matt's monster.

"I'll chain the card Magical Dimension," Matt countered. "I send my monster to the Graveyard—thus nullifying Snipe Hunter's effect—to summon from my hand Dark Magician Girl (6/2000/1700) and destroy your Snipe Hunter."

Garry simply nodded. He was getting a feel for Matt's deck and already felt confident he knew what to expect.

"I will set two cards."

Matt liked his chances now that Garry had no monsters. "I'll summon Magician's Valkyria (4/1600/1800) to the field. Now I'll have Valkyria (1600) attack."

"I activate the Continuous Trap card Depth Amulet," Garry announced. "I discard once to negate your attack."

"Okay. I'll let Dark Magician Girl (2000) attack, then."

"I will discard once more to negate that attack, as well."

Matt scoffed. "Well, then… I guess I'm done for this turn."

"I will summon Infernity Necromancer (3/0/2000)," Garry announced. "Because I have no cards in my hand, I can Special Summon from my Graveyard my Infernity Destroyer (6/2300/1000). Knowing the effects of your monsters, Infernity Destroyer (2300) will attack Magician's Valkyria (1600)."

Matt noticed that when his monster was destroyed, he took an extra 1600 points of damage. He asked if it was dealing damage equal to Valkyria's AP like Flame Wingman does.

"No," Garry told him harshly; Infernity Destroyer always deals 1600 points of damage when it destroys a monster. "How can you be the Duel Academy champion without knowing about a wide variety of cards?"

"Because the only time I desperately need to know what a card does is when I need to beat it," Matt told him. "I apologize for asking you to play down to my level, but I'm not familiar with these Infernity monsters. Would you mind letting me know what's going on as it happens, please?"

Garry scoffed. "I suppose I can do that. The duel won't last much longer, anyway." He pointed to the field and said, "Infernity Necromancer (2000) switched to defense mode immediately after I summoned him."

"I did notice, but thank you," Matt replied.

Garry motioned and said, "It is your turn." Matt 8000 – 700 – 1600 = 5700: Garry 8000.

"I'll play Sage's Stone. When Dark Magician Girl is on the field, Sage's Stone let's me summon the Dark Magician (7/2500/2100) from my deck. And he's strong enough to destroy Infernity Necromancer (2300)."

"A nice try," Garry said, "but I will play Reckless Greed, which lets me draw two cards. In response to your attack, I will discard a card for Depth Amulet's effect to negate your attack."

Matt huffed and said, "Wow. You're really good at avoiding attacks. I'll set a monster to my field, then I'm done."

Garry explained, "I skip my Draw Phase during this and my next turn because of Reckless Greed's effect. I will summon Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight (7/2300/2100), who can be summoned without Tributes because he is the only card in my hand. Now I can use Infernity Necromancer's (2000) effect to summon Infernity Archfiend from my Graveyard (4/1800/1200); when he's Special Summoned, I can also add Infernity Dwarf to my hand.

"Infernity Destroyer (2300) will attack Dark Magician Girl (2000)."

"I'll play Magic Cylinder, a trap that negates your attack and hits you for damage equal to Destroyer's (2300) AP."

Garry nodded. "You finally hit me. But you will still lose Dark Magician Girl (2000) when Swift Gaia (2300) attacks. And Infernity Archfiend (1800) will attack your facedown monster."

"When Apprentice Magician (2/400/800) is destroyed in battle, I can set Crystal Seer on the field."

"I end my turn." Matt 5700 – 300 = 5400: Garry 8000 – 2300 = 5700.

Matt looked over his hand for a moment, and because this was the first time he stood quietly, he overheard a few things from the audience. They were getting a little restless because Matt was losing, and restlessness usually instigates personal attacks.

"Is it true you're a senior?" Matt asked Garry.

Garry seemed confused. "I thought you already knew that."

"No," Matt replied. "Your headmaster told us you were a freshman. Well, come to think of it, he may have said you were a first-year. Did you transfer, perhaps?"

"I did," Garry replied. He narrowed his eyes at Matt until he determined that Matt wasn't trying to psych him out, then he said, "I feel a little guilty about dueling you this way. You really didn't know I was a senior?"

"I started to guess, but only because you look older than a freshman."

"And you are really only a freshman?" Garry asked. "Are you not the champion of Duel Academy, too?"

Matt grinned. "Well, not the _champion_, but I'm at the top of the freshman class and I've proven I have some skill. Next year when I'm not confined to the freshman class, I'll be the school's champion."

"I am shocked," Garry said. "You put up such a good fight so far. How can you be a mere freshman?"

"Hey," Matt said. "If you're old enough to draw a card, you're old enough to win a duel, am I right? I know a seven-year-old who duels pretty well for himself. Besides, it's cool. Knowing you're the senior champion of Godwin Academy makes this more interesting for me. So let's get this duel on the road!"

Garry glared at his headmaster from the corner of his eyes. "Okay. Let's continue."

Matt finally said, "Here's what I've got in mind. I'll have Dark Magician (2500) attack Infernity Destroyer (2300)."

"I will discard my last card to negate your attack."

"I figured. Now I'll set another card and end my turn." At that moment, Depth Amulet was destroyed and left the field by its own effect.

Garry was forced to skip his Draw Phase again. "I will use Infernity Necromancer's (2000) effect to summon Infernity Dwarf (2/800/500), who grants all my monsters a piercing effect. Infernity Destroyer (2300) will attack your facedown Crystal Seer (100)."

"Good memory," Matt remarked. "When Crystal Seer is flipped, I can look at two cards on top of my deck, then put one in my hand and one at the bottom of my deck."

"And don't forget that Destroyer's (2300) effect inflicts another 1600 points of damage for a destroyed monster." Matt 5400 – 2200 – 1600 = 1600: Garry 5700.

"That was big damage," Matt admitted. "I need to pick up the pace lest I lose this duel in front of everybody. I'll summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (4/16001900/1000), who gets a Spell Counter upon summoning and 300 extra AP because of it. I'll have my Dark Magician (2500) attack Infernity Destroyer (2300) and Breaker (1900) attack Infernity Dwarf (800). I set one more card and that's all." Matt 1600: Garry 5700 – 200 – 1100 = 4400.

Garry smiled because now he could finish the duel depending on Matt's last card. "I will play Pot of Greed to draw two cards. I will set a card and summon Cybernetic Cyclopean (4/14002400/200). He gains 1000 points when I have no cards in my hand. I will also use Infernity Necromancer's (2000) effect to summon Infernity Destroyer (2300) from my Graveyard. I will have Destroyer (2300) attack Breaker (1900) to end this duel."

"I can't allow that," Matt said. "I'll play Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, a trap that negates your attack and resets itself on my field to be used again later."

"Although a powerful card, it does not prevent my Cybernetic Cyclopean (2400) from attacking Breaker (1900)." Matt 1600 – 500 = 1100: Garry 4400.

Garry smiled to himself because not only was he winning, he had the upper hand over Dark Magician now—a trap card that would destroy any attacking monster and summon another Infernity monster to the field.

Matt scoffed at the field and said, "I can't believe it took me so long to get the upper hand in this duel."

"Are you kidding?" Garry asked. "You think you can win?"

"I do," Matt assured him. "Here's my strategy; I'll send Dark Magician (2500) to attack Infernity Necromancer (2000)."

"You've activated my trap; Infernity Force negates an attack on an Infernity monster and destroys your monster, and it summons Infernity Beast (3/1600/1200) to the field."

"Don't count out the Dark Magician yet," Matt told him. "I'll chain my facedown Dedication Through Light and Darkness to Tribute my Dark Magician and evolve him into Dark Magician of Chaos (8/2800/2600); upon summoning, I get a grab a spell from my Graveyard. I don't need it, but I'll take Magical Dimension. Anyway, Dark Magician of Chaos (2800) will continue the attack against Infernity Necromancer (2000)."

Garry was disappointed he wasted a valuable trap card, but at least he still had the majority of his monsters and a lot of good cards still yet to play.

"Here's where we finish," Matt said. "I'll summon Shadowpriestess of Ohm (4/1700/1600). I'll use her effect; I remove my Dark Magician of Chaos from the field to inflict 800 LP damage to you. And when he leaves the field, he gets removed from play."

"Why would you discard your best monster?"

"Because the damage was worth it, and I plan to remove him from play again. I'll activate Spell Economics, a Continuous Spell that lets me play spells without paying any Life Points. Here's the trump card: Dimension Fusion. This spell lets me pay 2000 LP to return a removed-from-play monster to my field, and Spell Economics prevents me from losing LP."

"You plan to remove Dark Magician of Chaos again to inflict another 800 points of damage?"

"Absolutely, and I'll do it again and again. Here's how; when Dark Magician of Chaos hits my field, I get to return a spell from my Graveyard to my hand. I'll take Dimension Fusion. Now I'll Tribute Dark Magician of Chaos to activate Shadowpriestess of Ohm's effect again, and then I'll play Dimension Fusion to bring him back, and I'll use his effect to retrieve Dimension Fusion."

Garry gasped loudly. He knew exactly where this strategy was going to end. He was powerless to stop Matt from landing constant direct damage attacks against his LP in a repetitive loop of plays that would only end when Garry's LP hit 0. The duel was over, and Garry lost. Matt 1100: Garry 4400 – 800 – 800 – 800 – 800 – 800 – 800 = 0.

The entire audience was awestruck. No one said anything for a solid minute until Bryan stood and screamed, "Yeah!" That sparked a deafening roar from the stadium. Everyone was on their feet cheering. Even the Godwin Academy students were shocked, but genuinely impressed by that duel.

"That was incredible," was a common cry. "Holy cow! Did you see that?" "How could a freshman duel like that?" "He performed a one-turn-kill in the School Duel!"

The crowd couldn't be quieted, and Matt didn't care. He walked over to Garry and extended his hand. Garry looked at it for a moment, then grasped it firmly.

"I am impressed," he said. "I have never lost before."

"If it makes you feel better, neither have I."

Garry closed his eyes for a moment and smiled. "I apologize for the way I acted at first. My headmaster was dishonest with me about my opponent for this duel. I expected to come here and find a snotty, overconfident senior who won a few duels and thought he was god's gift to dueling. Instead, I found a boy who acknowledged that he did not know everything and strived to learn all that he could. I think I learned more from watching your reactions than I ever did from any other duelist."

"It was no big deal," Matt told him. "That's just how I play. But you were amazing, too. I almost can't believe I managed to beat you. Those Infernity monsters are amazing."

"And yet, you beat them," Garry pointed out. "Whether you are a freshman or the King of Games, I want you to know that you are the best duelist I have ever seen."

Dr. Lankford wasn't even going to pretend that he had the capability of keeping all the students off the arena floor. Everyone wanted to be the first to congratulate Matt and Garry on an awesome duel.

"I guess this means I get your school's rare cards," Dr. West told Dr. Spengler excitedly.

"Oh, fine," Spengler groaned in response.

ESPN's ratings went through the roof on that duel. They even received countless requests to replay the duel on other stations with and without duelist commentary. Several home video requests were made, as well. Duel Academy and Godwin Academy each got a cut of the profits, and so the card shops received numerous shipments of new cards, singles and booster packs.

Garry and a few friends spent the rest of the day with Matt, Bryan, and the Guard Trio. They played a few more practice duels and even tried trading decks just for the experience of using someone else's cards. All in all, a good time was had by all. The next morning, all the Godwin students piled back into the bus early in the morning to make the airport for their flight back to Katsuya. Matt was there to see them off.

"Come back to visit sometime."

"I will think about it," Garry said. "I hope you keep winning. I expect to duel you again one day in the pro leagues."

"I'll be ready for it."

* * *

You ever get writing and then realize it takes more words to get your point across than you thought it would?  
Translation: I didn't mean for this chapter to be so long. The Infernity monsters were more useful than I thought they'd be. As the characters approach the end of the semester, I plan to change the pace of things after a few more chapters of character development. Any thoughts or comments about what's going on so far?

Having won the School Duel using a one-turn-kill strategy, rumors spread about Matt joining Team OTK. Haruki Yagawa, leader of OTK, intends to quash those rumors and deal Matt his first loss at Duel Academy. On another note, Kasumi and Thomas have broken up and Lakisha has a suggestion for Kas's next boyfriend.  
Next up: Recruiting for Team OTK


	12. Recruiting for Team OTK

Chapter 12: Recruiting for Team OTK

Matt's victory was a popular topic around the water cooler these days. He was the first freshman in Duel Academy history to duel publicly against a senior and win, and really numbered among the handful of freshmen ever to participate in a School Duel in the first place. The result of his duel elevated his reputation and made sure everyone on the island knew who he was.

The sheer number of duel requests Matt got increased inordinately, and it disappointed him greatly to realize he would be unable to accept all of them lest he give up some of his hobbies like basketball, Halo, and movie nights. Instead, he was prone to dueling for fun during movie night—that means he often took over the Red Dorm's lounge at night. The other thing that consumed his time was being hounded for deck tips from other Red Dorm residents. It was great fun seeing the decks other people built and trying to help them make better plays, but it was much too time-consuming and thinking of such involved strategies made it difficult to watch the movies.

Knowing all this and aware of the fact that Matt hates to say 'no,' Cary told Matt definitively that he was going to host movie night in his room this evening and that she would handle any prefect duties that came up.

"Are you afraid my new popularity is inflating my ego?" he asked her for an explanation.

"No. Kasumi and Thomas just broke up."

Matt's reaction was not what he would have expected; whereas he always thought of Kasumi as a friend who he wanted to be happy in love, he was surprisingly pleased to hear that she wasn't with Thomas anymore. He never especially liked Thomas, but he wasn't a really bad guy; he's just the jealous kind.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Matt replied. "Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine," Cary answered, "because we're surrounding her with good friends tonight and watching a movie. That means you actually paying attention to her and the movie, not to some student who's afraid to duel on his own."

Before he was willing to commit to that, he asked, "What's the movie?"

Cary laughed and said, "It's not a chick flick. The last thing we want is Kasumi hugging her pillow because she misses Thomas all of a sudden."

"What's the opposite of a chick flick? A slasher?"

"Stop asking dumb questions. And before you ask, we're doing this in your room because your TV is bigger and you have more space."

"Noted. Are you at least bringing popcorn and soda?"

"Deal."

After classes ended for the week and Matt was fed and finished his homework assignments, he grabbed some extra chairs from the common room and brought them into his room. He wasn't sure how many people Cary had in mind when she said they'd "surround" Kasumi with friends, but he was pretty sure that meant at least Lakisha and Jess. He invited everyone at the Guardian house, but only Justin and Andy claimed the free time to be there.

"Dave's doing date night with his girlfriend," Andy explained. Considering the distance between them, Dave's date night basically encompassed him walking through the woods and along the beach with no company other than his phone; he enjoyed having the island seem quiet except for Monica's voice.

"What's my bro up to?"

Both guys seemed a little hesitant to answer the question, which almost made Matt think Bryan was doing something illegal, or perhaps pulling a bigger prank than even Matt was prone to. Maybe he was setting something up to get Matt back for putting jelly in Bryan's shoes while he slept.

"You know how people who live together sometimes develop a strong relationship?" Justin tried.

Matt made a face. "So strong that you guys came here without him." He expressed his inability to decipher what Justin was saying. Andy was the one who decided to be blunt and let Matt deal with it.

"He and Lucy are starting to date."

Matt smiled. "Awesome. Nice catch, Bryan."

Justin was surprised. "You're not upset?"

"Why? Because Lucy and I flirted for a little while? It's not like Bryan stole her from me. She's smart enough to know who she wants to date. Besides, it doesn't surprise me that Bryan and I have similar tastes in women."

"Oh. Well, if it makes you feel any better, she turned me down, too." Justin asked out Lucy last year shortly after she expressed an interest in owning a god card. She gracefully turned him down. Andy posited the suspicion that because she looks heavy and obviously thinks of herself as fat, she's happier with a guy who makes her look smaller by comparison. Justin's a skinny guy, and despite his muscular build, Matt has a small frame; Bryan, on the other hand, has almost identical muscle mass, but a bigger frame and bone structure. He also towers a good ten inches over Lucy, all of which could make her feel more feminine.

"You could be right," Matt said regarding Andy's theory. "It makes sense, anyway."

"Are you looking to ask out Kasumi now that she's single?" Andy further asked Matt.

He couldn't help grinning, but he thought it was a ridiculous question. "She just broke up with the guy, and she's just a friend. A smoking hot friend, granted, but a friend nonetheless."

"What about Cary?" Justin asked.

Now Matt's grin meant something entirely different. "No, dude, I'm not romantically interested in Cary. She's all yours to hit on."

"Awesome," was Justin's playful response. Changing the subject, he said, "I heard there was some speculation about you being recruited by Team OTK."

"Really? That sounds kinda cool. Just because I used a one-turn strategy in the School Duel?" He looked at Justin and said, "Thanks for the idea, by the way." Justin was the one who brought to Matt's attention that Dark Magician of Chaos is always removed from play when it leaves the field, making it expensive to play twice through either Dimension Fusion or Return from the Different Dimension.

"No problem. You think you might want to join?"

Matt shrugged. "Is there a point? I mean, is it like a fraternity kind of thing, or is it just a group in name only?"

"Fraternity-_like_," Justin answered. "You don't live with them in your own house or have to do a lot of the embarrassing hazing fraternities pretend doesn't happen, but they do tend to group together often. They attend one another's duels for support and always offer assistance in deck building, from advice to giving away cards."

"That's pretty cool," Matt agreed. "But isn't that already kind of the relationship we all have?"

Andy smiled. "Yeah, but Justin and Dave and I are getting ready to graduate after one more semester. Team OTK will always be around as long as they keep finding people worth recruiting. That means you'll always have someone to hang out with."

"Let me rephrase the question, then," Matt said. "Do you think it's worth it?"

Andy deferred to Justin; he and Dave were both members of Team OTK before becoming Guardian Duelers. Dave set the record for the shortest delay between starting as an Academy student and being recruited to a team with his Exodia deck; he joined Team OTK by the time his second week of school started. Justin joined two months later. They would both be senior members if they hadn't left for Guardian status.

"It's a good experience," Justin admitted, "but they really do care about how good you are with your OTKs. They'll probably make you rebuild your deck to center it around the OTK strategy."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Feel about what?" Cary asked when she wandered into the room with her female entourage. Kasumi, Lakisha, and Jess followed her in, apparently under the impression that having more women than men in the room meant they'd be able to shut the guys up when they started making fun of the movie.

"You being late," Matt lied. "This was your idea, after all. Doesn't that make you the hostess, or at least a co-host?"

"Nobody cares," Cary replied to shut him up. She looked past him to Andy and Justin. "Hey, guys." Kasumi already knew Justin and Andy, but the other girls had to be introduced. Justin and Andy both gave condolences for Kasumi breaking up with Thomas.

"Thanks," she said and looked to Matt ever so briefly. "It was a pretty tough breakup. I'm in the mood just to forget about him for a while."

"That's why we're here," Matt said as he put his arm around her shoulder. "Assuming you all brought munchies, we hooked up a bunch of speakers to provide surround-sound." Kasumi commented that it would probably constitute a noise violation, to which Matt replied, "We're only doing it for one night, and we'll turn down the volume the instant someone complains."

It turns out Cary did grab a couple of horror movies for the night. The guys set up the beds in a V-shape on the wall opposite the TV; Matt had a number of pillows—some "boyfriend" pillows with high backs and arms plus some body-length pillows—strategically placed to make the beds seem more like couches, especially around the hard, wooden frames. He also had a moon chair plus the two wooden chairs from the lounge. Lakisha and Jess set up on Bryan's old bed with Andy; Lakisha kept talking to Andy throughout the night, though they kept it quiet. Cary started on the other bed with Kasumi and Matt, but after the first time she got up to use the bathroom, she sat on one of the cushioned wooden chairs instead, right beside Justin in the moon chair.

Matt didn't actually notice _why_ Cary left the couch-bed, but he was fully aware that he and Kasumi were the only ones sharing it. He tried not to hit on her too much because she _just_ broke up with Thomas, but after the second time she dug her nails into his hand accidentally in response to something scary onscreen, he figured it was safer to put his arm around her and let her cling to his body instead; at least that way, she didn't use her nails nearly so much.

When they finished the first movie, everyone took a break to go to the bathroom or get more snacks. Cary winked to Lakisha to signal their plan seemed to be working. That's when Matt got a message from an unknown number on his cell phone. It said to meet outside in five minutes with his duel deck. He told the others he'd be right back and to feel free to start the movie without him, but didn't let the girls know where he was going so they couldn't get mad at him; he told Andy and Justin, however, just in case something happened and someone would know where he was.

Outside, Matt met with two students of Japanese descent; they had dark hair and fair skin, but where the woman had a small build, the guy was a lot bigger—like Dave. Each wore blue blazers, but they had patches sewn onto them bearing an insignia with the letters "OTK."

"I guess Justin was right," he muttered to himself.

The woman overheard him and said, "Justin Nussbaum told you about us? I guess you heard the rumors, then." She bowed her head slightly and said, "I am Miyu Kino. This is Haruki Yagawa. Yagawa leads Team OTK. We wish to recruit you."

"What does recruitment entail?" Matt asked. "Other than interrupting movie night and dragging me away from a vulnerable, easily frightened young woman?"

Miyu showed a slight expression of disgust. "We were impressed that you managed to win the School Duel using a one-turn-kill strategy, and records showed you also won your entrance duel with a near one-turn strategy."

Haruki asked him, "Are you familiar with what we do?"

"Vaguely," Matt replied. Miyu and Haruki explained a lot of what Justin already described, but in more detail. They told him how much like a co-ed fraternity duel teams were, the brotherhood and ties brought on by having such close similarity to one's teammates. They often participate in many functions together, including volunteer work in Kazuki, and something that really grabbed Matt's attention: registering as a team for tournaments, splitting prizes between team members and the Academy. As an upper level team, they could easily get faculty referrals for such events.

"That does sound pretty exciting," Matt admitted. "What do I have to do?"

Miyu answered, "We will watch your next few duels closely; if you can manage to win them with one-turn-kill strategies, you will be contacted again."

"How long does the courting period usually last?" Matt further asked.

"It depends on your stats," Haruki answered. "Before that matters, you must duel me."

"You? Why?"

"Because I am the senior member, and I am very choosy about whom I let onto the team. I do not expect you to defeat me, but if you should lose too easily, we will rescind the offer."

Matt grinned. "Fair enough." They set up a duel at the picnic table nearby. This duel was off the record for multiple reasons: Haruki did not wish to taint Matt's record with this duel in case they deem him worthy of joining; they did not want a record of recruiting Matt if they deemed him unworthy; and it was easier to hide from prying eyes when the duel table didn't glow brightly at night.

Matt was offered the first turn. "I'll set a monster and two other cards."

Haruki nodded. "A decent start. But I'm afraid I lucked out and the duel is already over. I'll play Painful Choice." He began searching his deck and pulling aside five cards.

"Painful Choice," Matt repeated to himself a few times as he tried to recall the effect. He remembered seeing it on the forbidden cards list two weeks ago, but it was taken back off the list earlier this week.

"You don't know what it does?" Haruki asked sharply.

Matt shrugged. "I must have been on a date with a girl."

Haruki harrumphed at Matt's snarky attitude, but patiently reminded him, "I pick five cards from my deck and shows them to you, then you pick one to put in my hand and send the rest to the Graveyard."

"Sounds good," Matt said. Haruki showed him five monster cards, each with the word Lightsworn in its name: two Jain, Lightsworn Paladins; two Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress; and a Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior. "I guess you can keep Garoth."

"Very well," Haruki said. "With four Lightsworn beings in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon the Judgment Dragon (8/3000/2600) from my hand. And I will pay 1000 LP to activate its effect: All other cards on the field are destroyed."

"That sucks," Matt commented as he sent his cards to the Graveyard. "Not a total loss, though. My monster is Peten the Dark Clown (3/500/1200), and when he leaves the field, I can remove him from play to put another Peten the Dark Clown (1200) on my field in defense mode. At least I'm not completely defenseless."

Haruki laughed loudly at the play. "I'll pay another 1000 LP to destroy that Peten, and 1000 more to destroy the third."

Matt commented, "3000 points already, and I haven't even attacked."

"I'll summon another Judgment Dragon (8/3000/2600) to the field, and now I'll activate Foolish Burial to send Wulf, Lightsworn Beast from my deck to the Graveyard; as soon as he hits the Graveyard, his effect activates and Wulf (4/2100/300) is summoned to my field. Now my monsters will attack." Matt 8000 – 3000 – 3000 – 2100 = 0: Haruki 8000 – 1000 – 1000 – 1000 = 5000.

"Crap," Matt uttered. "That was fast."

Haruki stood and collected his cards. "Now you see how powerful we of Team OTK can be." He looked sideways at Matt, curious of his strategy. "Why did you play Peten the Dark Clown on the first turn? I saw your hand just now. You could have played the Dark Magician on your first turn."

Matt shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Humor me."

"I was unsure what your strategy would be, and Peten's effect activates when he's sent to the Graveyard regardless of being by battle or not. It seemed the safest overall defense for the first turn."

Haruki smiled. "It was a decent attempt. Not worthy of immediate admittance, but I am willing to admit that I had a bit of luck with my opening hand; I do not always win on the very first turn. For that reason, I want to duel you again immediately after your semester finals are through. That's when I will put your membership up to a vote among the team members."

Matt nodded, still a little struck by how handily he lost that duel. He watched as Haruki and Miyu walked away and left him in the moonlight. He managed to shake it off and wander back to his room, where he told the girls he was ordering pizza.

* * *

Finally managed to keep a chapter short. I'm ready to change the pace of things, but I need one more chapter to finish off the first Duel Academy semester.

In the next chapter, I'll give you a look into a typical day for each of the main characters just as a reminder that dueling isn't the only thing that happens at school. The final exams for dueling classes can be more fun, though; finally we'll see how Kasumi handles herself in a duel. Matt also learns how far-reaching a reputation at Duel Academy can be.  
Next up: Semester Finals


	13. Semester Finals

Chapter 13: Semester Finals

All students had gotten into a routine by this point in the semester. Each student had his or her own way through the day. Some adhered strictly to a daily schedule and some were consistent only in how variable their schedules were.

When Matt awoke in the morning, he most often began by stumbling out of bed. After one or two hundred sit-ups and an equal number of push-ups, he felt awake enough to get moving through the day. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he was at his history class by eight o'clock for four straight hours of classes, with a quick lunch just after noon. But that freed him up around one-thirty for an afternoon round of basketball with whoever was on the court. (Bear in mind the short breaks between classes and the times will add up correctly.) He followed that by a few hours of study before meeting up with Bryan and the Guard Trio for dinner. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he didn't have class until nine-thirty, and so he began the day with a trip to the gym at six-thirty. He had an hour and a half for lunch with Cary and friends before another class, and then he got in an hour of study before dinner. Matt averaged six duels throughout a typical day.

Bryan's daily routine included jumping out of bed with only fifteen minutes to get ready and get to his first class; unfortunately for him, classes started at eight o'clock every day and he hated mornings. He was rarely late to class, but he could often be seen sprinting across campus to get there. Bryan was the kind of guy who made lots of jokes out loud during class, but he also volunteered to answer many questions to balance his behavior. Bryan sometimes met up with Matt on Monday afternoons for a workout at the gym, but on Wednesdays and Fridays, he went with Lucy after class; she tended to do less weight lifting and more cardio than he did, but they enjoyed going together and meeting the other guys for dinner afterward. Most of Bryan's free time was filled by Lucy or bonding with his roommates over video games. Bryan averaged four duels per day.

Cary's morning started as early as Matt's, but she woke herself up through a shower and watching the morning news. She always arrived at her classes fifteen minutes early to review her notes from previous class periods and to ask questions of the professor if something needed clarification. She usually ate lunch with a small group of friends, but it wasn't uncommon for her to eat by herself in order to let her thoughts roam where they might, especially if she was working out a brain buster from one of her classes. Cary was a writer, and she was in the process of applying to work on the school paper starting in the spring. Much of her free time was spent honing her skills doing research and a few articles as part of the application process, but she still found time to go to the gym for a half hour each evening and then relax with her friends for a little while. Cary averaged nine duels per day.

Early morning made Kasumi eerily effervescent; she was startlingly cheerful first thing after waking up. That's not to say she got up early when she didn't have to, but she was ready to go almost the instant she awoke, usually a half hour before class regardless of its starting time. Her day started with a quick shower and a small breakfast, then she was off to class where she sat quietly and only answered questions when called on. Lunch was her favorite time of day because she got to spend some time with her friends before they were too mentally exhausted by their classes. Occasionally Kasumi went to the gym with Cary in the evenings, but more often she spent time behind the Red Dorm doing aerobic workouts, most notably practicing Capoeira maneuvers. Having studied martial arts for most of her life, Kasumi was quite proud of how athletic she was and that she could pretty well kick anyone's butt she wanted to. Kasumi averaged five duels per day.

Students are able to personalize their curricula with elective courses, but in addition to a required number of credit hours achieved for graduation, there are a lot of general education classes all students are required to complete before graduation, although they could take each class during whichever semester they choose based on the rest of their schedules. Matt, Cary, Bryan, and Kasumi all shared Advanced Game Play 101, Game Theory, and World History. Matt's schedule also included economics, and he shared psychology with Kasumi. Cary and Kasumi both took chemistry, and Cary also took Japanese with Bryan, whose fifth class was Critical Thinking; he also enrolled in the Guardian Psychology course as a sixth class when he earned Uria.

Each of the Guard Trio had a nearly identical schedule to one another. Dave, Justin, and Andy all took the same classes, they all worked on campus, and they had largely the same free time activities. Dave spent thirty minutes minimum each evening on the phone with Monica, Andy practiced his guitar, and Justin rebuilt and improved any computer he got his hands on, but they spent a lot of time playing games, working on the Internet, and dueling one another. Dave was Dr. West's student assistant, and so his work hours—generally any hour between eight and five that he wasn't in class—were spent doing research, compiling lecture notes, editing documents, and preparing reports for faculty and staff members. Justin worked at the tech center, and so his work hours were spent doing data analysis, repairing network and system issues, and occasionally reminding students that most computers need to be plugged in to play. Andy worked at the card shop as a customer service rep and as a librarian of sorts, stocking and organizing cards available for sale. All three guys averaged between three and four duels per day.

Erica's daily schedule was fairly rigid until the evenings. She was an early riser in order to get to the gym before work and classes. She had many of the same classes as the Guard Trio, with the exception of the education classes she enrolled in to earn her teaching certification. She worked as a teaching assistant for the faculty; she spent her office hours grading tests, preparing assignments, and tutoring students who need the extra help. She grabbed dinner right after work, and then she spent a solid two hours doing her own school work. After that, she went to the gym for an hour. Most of the time she spent with friends came in the few minutes before and after class and on the weekends. Erica averaged four duels per day.

Lucy was one to spend a fair amount of time on her appearance in the morning, and so she was up at least an hour before she needed to leave the house. She took a shower in the morning, then ate a fair breakfast. She went to the gym twice a week with Bryan right after class. During the day, when she wasn't in class or at the gym, she was working with the student council. She spent most of her free time with Bryan, some of it with Erica and other friends, and occasionally with the Guard Trio. Lucy averaged three duels per day.

* * *

The last week of classes was finals week, and the last final exam for our freshman protagonists was their game play course. Bryan was never excited for final exams in high school, but when he realized his final exam for the game play course was to duel a classmate, he felt much more eager to take the test. Many courses still had written finals; it largely depended on the professors. In Bryan's required Guardian Psyc course, Maya Kawamura skipped the final exam and asked students to write papers, instead.

But Bryan was even more excited about something else. Before the exam started, Bryan rushed to Matt's side with a bunch of papers.

"Dude! Check this out!" He shoved the papers in front of Matt, but he never actually let go, making it more difficult for him to read them. "You were invited to a tournament in Gathas during the winter. And not just any tournament—a Limitations tournament!" He smiled and added, "It's a good thing you checked your mail this morning."

Matt made a face. "I don't remember checking my mail."

"You must have," Bryan insisted. "This letter is addressed to you and it's already open."

Matt laughed at his logic. "Tell me more."

"This letter used to be in your mailbox, and then I assume—"

"About the _tournament_!"

Bryan had already drawn most students' attention as he described the tournament. Like the name suggests, this was a specialty tournament in which the rules for dueling were different from the normal rules. Typically a duelist has to have a really big name to get invited, but Matt's qualifications were covered by his School Duel victory. In addition to registration instructions for himself, the letter mentioned he could register one guest with him.

"So…" Cary said, suddenly pretending to flirt with him. She wrapped her arm around his and smiled brightly. "Who are you going to take?" Cary wanted to be part of this tournament; that's the only reason she was flirting with Matt now. When she saw Kasumi's pained expression, she winked at her and motioned slightly with her head. She was telling Kasumi to woo Matt, too.

"Don't even bother," Bryan told her. "Matt is going to take the Number Six duelist on the island with him. He needs to take a real winner with him."

Matt smiled painfully at his sworn brother. "I have to admit, sharing a luxury hotel room with a cute girl for a whole weekend does sound like lots of fun."

"Crap. I knew it!" Bryan moaned. "Would it help if I had breasts?"

"It would help if you were a better kisser."

It was Cary's turn to make a confused expression. "_Better_?" she repeated. Bryan began gesticulating wildly, including the motion of a zipper over his mouth. Cary just shook her head and dropped the subject lest the joke go too far and make her sick.

For the final exam duel, Matt dueled against Lakisha, Cary dueled against a guy named Joel Hullum, and Bryan dueled against Kasumi. Finally taking a bit of a bold step, Kasumi decided to place a silent wager on their duel.

"I can't take your money," he told her.

"Not that," she giggled. She paused for a moment, then said, "If I win, will you convince Matt to ask me out?"

Bryan just huffed, not looking at all surprised. "Yeah, okay." Kasumi let out a sigh of relief, but Bryan wasn't willing to let her do nothing on her end. "I think you underestimate how hot it is when a strong-willed woman asks a guy out herself."

"What?"

He grinned at her. "When I win, you have to ask _him_ out. And you have to do it before the winter graduation and awards ceremony tomorrow."

"Wait. Why?"

"Don't be scared of him. Matt is your friend. You want to date him? Go ask him out. I really don't think he'll turn you down. I mean, look at you." Kasumi smiled shyly, finally agreeing to the wager. And with a bout of rock-paper-scissors, Bryan got to take the first turn.

"I'll start with Future Fusion," Bryan declared. "I send Elemental Heroes Avian, Sparkman, and Bubbleman to the Graveyard in order to summon Tempest in two turns. For _this_ turn, I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

Kasumi drew and laughed to herself. "I'll also play Future Fusion, but I'll send my Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull to the Graveyard to summon Black Skull Dragon in two turns. For now, I'll summon Divine Dragon Ragnarok (4/1500/100) and attack your monster."

"You attacked Clayman (4/800/2000)," Bryan pointed out. "His defense is higher than your attack, so you take the difference as damage."

"I remember," Kasumi said. "I'll set one card and also play Non-Spellcasting Area; it prevents any spells from affecting monsters that aren't effect monsters."

"Nice card. It protects my Clayman, too, so thanks." Bryan looked over his hand and said, "I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300) and use his effect to bring Elemental Hero Wildheart to my hand. Now I'll play…" He stared at the field for a moment and said, "Hey, wait. Non-Spellcasting Area means I can't use Polymerization on Clayman, doesn't it?"

Kasumi smiled. "Indeed, it does. You like it?"

"Not especially, no. I guess I should have used Stratos's other effect instead. Life goes on. I'll switch Clayman (800) to attack mode and start by having Stratos (1800) attack Ragnarok (1500). Then Clayman (800) will attack directly."

"I don't think so," Kasumi said. "I'll play Birthright, a trap that lets me summon a normal monster from my Graveyard, like the Summoned Skull (6/2500/1200). Still want to attack?"

"No," Bryan said. "I'll set a card and end my turn." Bryan 8000: Kasumi 8000 – 300 = 7700.

Kasumi grinned again. "Premature Burial lets me revive the Red-Eyes Black Dragon (7/2400/2000) in exchange for 800 LP. I'll also summon Mirage Dragon (4/1600/600) and use him to attack Clayman (800)."

Bryan huffed. "And Mirage Dragon prevents me from using Traps during the Battle Phase. That's just perfect."

"Glad you're so happy about it," Kasumi said mockingly. "Summoned Skull (2500) is free to destroy Stratos (1800), and my Red-Eyes (2400) can attack you directly." Bryan 8000 – 800 – 700 – 2400 = 4100: Kasumi 7700 – 800 = 6900.

"I'm a little annoyed that you're smarter than I am," Bryan commented. "At least Elemental Hero Tempest (8/2800/2800) appears during my Standby Phase. I'll summon Elemental Hero Ocean (4/1500/1200) and also activate Skyscraper. I'll have Tempest (2800) attack the Summoned Skull (2500) before that causes me more harm, and owing to Skyscraper's effect, Ocean (2500) can attack Mirage Dragon (1600). Then I'll set another card on the field." Bryan 4100: Kasumi 6900 – 300 – 900 = 5700.

"Future Fusion summons Black Skull Dragon (9/3200/2500) to my field," Kasumi said. "I'll activate Inferno Fire Blast, a spell that inflicts damage to you equal to the AP of my Red-Eyes (2400). Now I'll have Black Skull Dragon (3200) attack Tempest (2800)."

"I'll send one of my facedown cards to the Graveyard to render Tempest immune to destruction," Bryan announced.

Kasumi looked surprised. "Okay. My Red-Eyes (2400) will attack your Ocean (1500). Normally, Inferno Fire Blast prevents Red-Eyes from attacking during the same turn, but Non-Spellcasting Area protects Red-Eyes from that effect."

"I remember," Bryan said. "That's why I'm sending another card to the Graveyard to let Tempest render Ocean invincible."

"Well, that's my turn, and I've almost got you beat." Bryan 4100 – 2400 – 400 – 900 = 400: Kasumi 5700.

"But almost only counts in horseshoes," Bryan reminded her. "Using Ocean's effect, I can take Stratos from the Graveyard and put him in my hand. I'll go ahead and summon him now, using his effect to take Elemental Hero Bladedge to my hand. Your spell card slowed my fusions, but you can't stop them; I can still fuse Wildheart and Bladedge into Elemental Hero Wildedge (8/2600/2300). Now I'll use Wildedge's effect to attack both your monsters. The Red-Eyes (2400) is already weaker, but Skyscraper makes Wildedge (3600) stronger than the Black Skull (3200). Now you're wide open for Stratos (1800) and Tempest (2800) to attack." Bryan 400: Kasumi 5700 – 200 – 400 – 2800 – 1800 = 0.

Kasumi hung her head low when she realized she lost after coming so close. She was especially distressed when she realized:

"If I attacked Ocean with the Black Skull, I could have won right away."

"Not true," Bryan countered. "The card I sent to the Graveyard to protect Ocean was Elemental Recharge; it would have given me another 2000 LP. I was ready for you either way."

Bryan leaned in close and asked, "Are you just trying to get him to take you with him to Gathas?"

She shook her head slightly and said, "No. I really like him."

"Good. Ask him now, then." Kasumi turned bright red as she looked at Matt's duel with Lakisha. She looked back at Bryan, who nodded encouragingly.

* * *

The ceremony to end the semester took place the next day. Some students who achieved sufficient credits for early graduation did so at graduation in the morning, and the students with the highest recorded win percentage and win raw number were presented their rewards. Senior Yul Tan achieved the highest win percentage at 1.000, and senior Haruki Yagawa was victorious in 1108 duels during the semester. Yul accepted several rare cards from the card shop, and Haruki exchanged his prize for Academy endorsement in a national tournament to take place in the spring.

* * *

And so ends the first semester of Duel Academy. It's time for a change of pace, and what better way to do that than to send Matt and a friend of his choice to an international tournament in which the rules change for every duel?

Matt journeys to the luxurious Denkard Hotel and Casino in Gathas to try his hand against a variety of international strategists. But despite the cost of the hotel and tournament registration, Matt doesn't pay for a dime; the whole thing is complimentary. Who would pay Matt's way, and why?  
Next up: Gamble... or Investment?


	14. Gamble or Investment?

Chapter 14: Gamble… or Investment?

"Wow, would you get a load of this place?" Bryan said as he looked upon the grand hotel in the business district of Gathas. "This place is bigger than all the dorms in the Academy combined!"

The luxurious Denkard was a thirty-story hotel and casino known for its elegance and high class patrons. The building had almost four thousand rooms, an elaborate fountain in the atrium, and a collection of botanical gardens filled with all kinds of exotic plants moved and replanted to reflect the season outside.

"I should hope so," Dexter replied. "We tend to house more people here. Helps earn more money." Dexter Word was the limo driver sent to pick up Bryan and Matt from the airport. He was one of many employed by the Denkard Hotel and Casino for their very special Duel Monsters Limitation Tournament weekend. They arrived after dark, and the lights of the hotel were beautiful. The biggest surprise to Matt was that he and his guest had to pay for nothing. Airline tickets came with their registration confirmations, and they were told registration was free because they were special guests.

"This is too much," Matt said. "Free registration? Fancy hotel? A limo?" He looked at Bryan's overzealous expression, then nodded in agreement. "Okay. _Almost_ too much."

Bryan and Matt gave the free registration and airfare no extra thought, but Dr. West was curious who would sponsor freshmen who haven't even completed a full year of duel school. Granted, they were superior duelists even for their lack of intense experience—Matt was the first freshman to defeat a senior in the School Duel of the two most revered dueling schools, and Bryan already proved himself strong enough to wield a god card—but companies rarely ever sponsored freshmen. Dave won numerous tournaments during his freshman year, but he wasn't sponsored for any of them. They required registration fees, which were sometimes covered in part by Duel Academy for the bigger tournaments, and never were full transportation and hotel costs paid.

"If you young men would like, simply go through those doors and talk to the lady at the desk. She will get you registered and give you room keys. I'll bring your luggage in for you," Dexter said.

"You sure you don't need a hand?" Bryan asked.

Dexter reached in the trunk and pulled out two small bags each the size of a Pomeranian. "I've carried luggage for entire parties of females. I can handle your stuff."

The inside of the hotel was even more impressive than the outside. The walls were decorated with brilliant wallpaper that almost seemed lined with real gold, and the lights were surrounded by crystals. The fountain even reflected the light as if it were dancing diamonds. Even the receptionist was decked out in jewelry and fancy clothes.

"Are you boys here for the tournament?" the lady asked with a heavy British accent.

"Yes, we are," Bryan responded in a fake British accent. "How'd you know?"

"Well, the card decks on your belt made a good clue, dears," she replied with a sarcastic expression. She was not especially amused by Bryan's fake accent. "Why don't I get your information so you can get settled in?"

"Sure," Matt said and pulled his Academy ID from his wallet. "I'm Matt Luther and this is Bryan Knight. We're from Duel Academy."

The woman's expression changed entirely when she saw the ID cards and brought up the names on the registration list. "Oh, my," she gasped. "I apologize for my tone. I was unaware who you were, Mr. Luther."

"So we get special treatment or something?" Bryan asked just to be silly, not at all expecting the answer he was about to get.

"You two will be as royalty around here," the receptionist said. "Ms. Moxley says your entire bill will be complimentary and you will be put in the jackpot suite." She handed them two keycards with the Denkard logo on them and motioned a bellhop to the three bags Dexter Word brought in. "Please get settled into your room and let us know immediately if you need anything. Ms. Moxley will meet with you soon."

"Who's Ms. Moxley?" Bryan asked as casually as he would ask the weather.

The receptionist looked shocked, but the boys were redeemed a bit in her eyes when Matt pointed out the Bryan that Leona Moxley was the hostess of the tournament; she handwrote the invitation letter. Then his attention drifted inexplicably toward the glorious dining room adjacent to the lobby.

From the dining room large enough to seat more than any duel arena Bryan or Matt ever went to came a woman whose beauty was unmatched by anything the two boys had ever seen. She was fifty-two years old, but she looked absolutely angelic in her flowing, shimmering gown, and she seemed to exude youth despite her age. She had a fairly dark complexion, silky dark hair, and enchanting gray eyes. Her build was athletic and strong, and she looked like a woman half her age.

"You must be Mr. Luther and Mr. Knight. Or the Marx Brothers of Dueling, as I hear it," the woman spoke.

"If we must, then I guess we are," Bryan said, better able to overcome her enchanting appearance than Matt was. Matt found himself oddly awestruck and speechless at the mere sight of her.

"And you must be Ms. Moxley," Matt said. He bowed lightly as he gently took her hand and added, "It is a great honor to be here at your lovely hotel."

"Charmed," Leona said genuinely with a smile.

"Careful, or I'll tell Kasumi," Bryan whispered.

"Please, allow me to show you to your room," Leona told the boys. She escorted them to the elevator and went with them to the twenty-eighth floor where she revealed one of the largest suites available.

Looking around the room, Matt never felt more like he was being handed prizes he didn't deserve. Freshman champ at Duel Academy or not, he and Bryan hadn't done anything yet that deserved nearly thirty thousand cubic feet living space for a weekend free of charge. The room was complete with all kinds of furniture, including the enormous bed commonplace in a suite, two couches big enough to be beds, chairs that kids and Bryan would love to jump on, a bathroom big enough to bathe a hippo, and a refrigerator filled with everything. Not only that, they were being personally escorted by the owner.

"Are we the only participants who didn't have to pay registration or airfare or anything?" Matt asked.

"You don't like the room?" Leona asked, interpreting Matt's question incorrectly.

"No, the room is fantastic," he emphasized nervously. "We really probably don't deserve it yet." He thought about the School Duel and the OTK badge pinned to his school jacket. "I know I have some big honors under my belt, but I've done nothing to earn this yet. That's why I'm curious."

"Yet?" Leona repeated with a smile. She liked to hear young duelists who still spoke optimistically about their talents.

"We're going to be co-King of Games one day," Bryan explained. "That's when we'll actually deserve this kind of specialty treatment. I think Matt is just nervous because usually complimentary registration of this magnitude doesn't come without a catch."

"I see," Leona replied thoughtfully. "Let me simply say a wealthy patron of mine sees a lot of promise in you. He saw the Duel Academy vs. Godwin Academy duel and was very impressed. He and I decided to sponsor your participation in this international tournament as a bit of an investment."

"An investment?" Bryan repeated. "Did we sign some contract I didn't pay attention to that said you get my first born or something like that?"

With an amused smile, Leona replied, "Not that kind of investment, dear. You are not contractually obliged to me or any of my patrons for any purpose. We simply expect to see high quality dueling from two highly-ranked students who come from a prestigious school."

After the boys spent a few minutes unpacking and drawing up a map to help getting around the room, Leona requested they join her for a late dinner. It was a chance for them to be properly introduced to one another and to meet some of the other participants and investors. "Investor" was a polite word for the level of gambling that was sure to take place during this tournament.

"Oh, yeah," Bryan said excitedly. "You got any liver and onions? I need something to wash the taste of airplane food out of my mouth."

Dinner consisted of an amazing array of foods from all around the world. Leona spared no expense in making everyone there feel like they'd died and gone to heaven, which made Matt wonder what the registration fee would have been if he weren't sponsored; could Duel Academy even afford it? During the meal, all Leona would tell him was that the fee was high enough only the highest class of duelist received an invitation, which Bryan translated loosely as "Republicans." The ones who win tournaments regularly had more than enough money to gamble on this tournament, and the winner would receive a collection of rare cards along with a hefty monetary prize.

After forty-five minutes of the late dinner, when Matt and Bryan were sufficiently stuffed, the other participants entered the dining room. It was almost 2300, but they came to see Leona's welcome and introduction to the tournament, scheduled late at night because Gathas was not unlike Vegas, and the nighttime is when things really get moving. The crowd included duelists from across the globe, many wearing different clothing styles, but most wearing some kind of formalwear, as if to show off their money. It was clear even to a blind man that more money changed hands in this tournament than just the prize money. Betting on a single round of this tournament could completely return a person's registration fee.

"Welcome, guests," Leona announced. "I hope you are all making yourselves at home as long as you are here. You are some of the best duelists in the world, and we hope to see excellent show and sportsmanship from you. As stated on your invitations, this tournament will last three days. You will undertake grueling duels with special rules to limit the power of your decks. The rules will vary from round to round, and only those duelists with the highest marks at the end of three days will be eligible to participate in the final duel. I have prepared an exhibition duel to give you some idea of the rules you may be required to adhere to."

Leona motioned to the end of the room where Dexter and another employee Faye Olivo were armed with expensive, next generation Duel Disks. They activated the hologram projectors and started the exhibition duel.

"For this competition," Leona described to the audience, "both duelists were given twenty minutes notice to prepare duel decks without any monsters and they are given only 4000 Life Points each. Begin."

Dexter drew and said, "I'll begin by activating Wave-Motion Cannon. Then I'll set three cards facedown."

"My turn," Faye said. "And I'll start with Heavy Storm to sweep away your cards."

"I'll chain Magic Jammer and discard one card to negate your Spell."

"In that case, I'll activate Dark Snake Syndrome and play Time Jump—this Spell skips the duel ahead by three turns. I'll also set two cards and end my turn."

"My turn," Dexter said.

"Before you draw," Faye said, "I'll activate Pyro Clock of Destiny. This Trap jumps the turn count forward once more."

"I understand," Dexter replied. "I'll draw."

"Now the effect of Dark Snake Syndrome activates. Starting with 200, it doubles the damage you take to your Life Points with every Standby Phase, and this will be Standby Phase number five, thanks to my Spell and my Trap. So you take 3200 points of damage."

"Nice play," Dexter said, "but I was prepared. "I'll play Barrel Behind the Door. This Trap negates any effect damage you do to me and deals it back to you. So now _you_ take 3200 points of damage."

Faye gritted her teeth and took the hit instead of activating her facedown card.

"Now I will end this duel," Dexter said. "When I remove Wave-Motion Cannon from the field, you take damage equal to 1000 times the number of Standby Phases that have passed—five, if I'm not mistaken?"

"I'll chain my Trap," Faye replied. "Damage Polarizer negates the damage and forces us each to draw one card."

"Not bad," Dexter said, "but you made an unfortunate error. My other facedown is Poison of the Old Man; activating this Spell will deal an instant 800 points of damage to you, and you have no other cards to protect you." Dexter 4000: Faye 4000 – 3200 – 800 = 0.

"This duel is over," Leona announced, followed by applause and rumblings of the crowd. Everyone thought he or she could have done the duel better or knew exactly which cards to use when building a deck without monsters.

"That was cool," Bryan said to Matt. "A duel without monsters? Talk about a challenge!"

Leona finished her announcement by saying, "Please relax and enjoy the hotel tonight. If there is anything you require, please do not hesitate to ask any of our helpful staff. There is just one rule: No dueling will be tolerated in hotel facilities. Duel Disks are for use in the tournament only. Now, enjoy your evening."

That basically meant the duelists could practice with one another, but they couldn't compete tonight. There were no clear consequences, but with a prize as big as the one offered, no one was especially willing to take the risk. Why try to take out weak duelists early when they could do so in one of the later rounds of the tournament and get a free pass?

"Want to go check out the casino?" Matt asked Bryan.

"Yeah, sure. We might as well break the law while we're here," he said half-seriously. "I'm too excited to sleep just yet, plus you're not supposed to lie down for two hours after eating."

"I guess that leaves us plenty of time to go broke."

Needless to say, the casino was huge, and the lights were enough for an instant seizure. There was something for everyone here, and except during reserved tournament weekends, there was usually someone for every game. It looked a lot like a casino on one side and an arcade on the other, if the arcade required a minimum wage per game and actually returned money for the winners.

"Are we old enough to be here?" Bryan asked.

"I don't know. I think the age for gambling in Gathas is eighteen, but we're still too young to drink and you're the only one legally allowed to gamble until January."

A few of the international duelists were sitting at a Blackjack table when they noticed Bryan and Matt looking around. Recognizing the boys from Duel Academy records and footage, the group laughed amongst themselves first, then one of them called to the boys.

"Hey, you. Winning children. Come play with us." He spoke with a thick Russian accent, and his eyes reeked of greed and lust. He was a compulsive gambler, but unlike most, he rarely lost. His gambling problem came from winning more often than not. And he argued that being rich—the result of his gambling—wasn't a problem for him. It was hard to argue with that, especially when he handed out a hundred rubles just to shut up anyone who would try.

"You must be here for the Limitations Tournament," Bryan said. "Bryan Knight, future co-King of Games."

The Russian and his cohorts laughed again. "I saw footage of School Duel between Duel Academy and Godwin Academy. You barely beat senior with Infernity deck. You really think you can win this tournament?"

"We definitely can," Bryan replied. "We're as good as anyone out there."

"Are you really that talented?" asked one of the ladies at the table. She was probably in her late forties or early fifties, but she actually looked like it—not like Leona. This woman not only looked old, but she smoked and drank constantly, which just made her look even older. She was obviously from Eastern Europe, possibly among the former Soviet states, but it was hard to pinpoint her accent precisely.

"I don't like to brag," Matt said, then added, "all the time. But I have won a share of especially challenging duels."

"Is that so?" the Russian replied. "Perhaps you'd like to have a game of cards right here to test that theory?"

"A duel?" Matt asked, about to argue that Leona forbid dueling outside the tournament. "No, you mean Blackjack."

"You're brighter than I first give you credit for," the Russian said.

"Okay," Matt accepted. He motioned to the dealer. "Do you happen to have a fresh pack of cards for us to use here? Not that I don't trust the house, but I've seen a lot of movies."

The dealer handed Matt a deck of playing cards with the packaging plastic still on, which Matt tore off before he looked through the deck. He tossed out a Joker and an instruction sheet and handed the deck to the Russian.

"Check to see if that deck suits you," he said.

The Russian searched the deck, then handed the cards to the dealer with a short nod. The dealer proceeded to shuffle the cards of a single deck in the automatic shuffler and tossed a facedown card to Matt, one to the Russian, then showed Matt a face-up four, and showed a king for the Russian.

"What are the stakes?" the Russian asked.

"I thought you were just testing me," Matt replied.

"How about a wager?" the European lady proposed. It was clear she was almost as wild about gambling as the Russian was.

"Here's an idea," Bryan offered. "Matt can beat you twice within three games."

"I accept," the Russian said eagerly. This was not his first time in a casino, and he recognized when the odds were in his favor. "Now how about wager?"

"How much do you want?" Matt asked.

The Russian pulled a pair of Ben Franklins out of his jacket pocket. "Two hundred."

Matt looked at it for a second, then said, "Deal. Two times in three games."

The Russian nodded. "Feel free to start, my young friend. I trust you have the money to back up the wager." What he actually meant was, he trusted Matt to _get_ the money one way or another. If he didn't, that would be a different question.

"I'll back the kid," a third man offered. This man just walked over to the table. He was much better dressed than anyone else in the room, and he actually smelled clean. He didn't seem the dark, Mafia type like so many others did. He spoke with an English accent, though not as strong as the one the receptionist sported. The Russian looked at the Englishman suspiciously, but the three others at the table including the European lady threw money down for the game, too.

"Can you cover all that?" the Russian asked.

"I can," Bryan said. It was a lie, but Bryan knew Matt was going to win, so he wasn't afraid to put down the imaginary deposit.

"Very well. Begin."

"You got it," Matt said. He flipped his facedown card and said, "Double down." He now had two face-up fours, so the dealer dealt him two facedown cards. Matt pointed to the first pile and said, "Hit."

The dealer showed a ten. "Fourteen."

"Stay." Matt pointed to his other pile and said, "Hit."

The dealer showed a four. "Eight."

"Hit."

This time a three. "Eleven."

"Stay."

Now it was the Russian's turn. He had a king showing. He hit and got a five. He decided to stand.

Matt flipped all his cards. First hand: four, ten, seven. Second hand: four, four, three, jack. Both hands added to twenty-one. The Russian held king, five, and five. Matt won the first hand.

"That was fun," Matt said. "We'll have to do that again sometime."

"We still have another hand," the Russian reminded him.

"No, you don't," the Englishman corrected him. "I believe the wager was for two wins within three games, is that correct? He beat you two times in this one game, so the boy is the victor." He picked up the money and handed most of it to Bryan and Matt.

The Russian just smiled to hide the rage boiling beneath the surface. "How about one more hand? A brand new bet. Just one hand."

"Same wager?" Matt asked. This time, people were less eager to get in on the action at first; this time it would be entirely by luck. The crowd around the table definitely grew, however.

"Double my bet," the Russian said. This time Matt had the money on him, so he was actually capable of showing his wager.

The dealer dealt both a pocket card and a show card. Matt showed a five, the Russian showed an ace. Now money fell on the table in favor of the Russian. Between Bryan and the Englishman, all bets were covered.

"I'll stand," the Russian said.

"Hit," Matt said. Deuce. "Hit." Nine. More money fell. "Hit."

"You're hitting?" the European lady repeated. Matt affirmed his decision, and more money fell to the table. If Matt had eleven showing, what were the odds he would get something low enough not to bust?

King.

"Twenty-one showing," the Russian said with a smirk. "Too bad. You bust, so I win."

"What did you have?" Matt asked.

The Englishman placed his hand over the pot before the Russian could gather the money. He said, "Why not answer the boy's question? Just for fun?"

The Russian looked incredulously at the Englishman for a moment, then sat back. He flipped his pocket nine. "Twenty."

Matt smirked. "Then I win." He added, "I guess that meal made me more tired than I thought to make a mistake like this…" He flipped over his pocket card and revealed a Joker. "…but you allowed the deck. And a Joker has no value. So I have twenty-one to your twenty."

The Russian was clearly not happy, and his sentiments were shared by everyone who bet on him. But the Englishman and Bryan really cleaned up on that hand, plus two others who placed money on Matt. At that point, the dealer broke up the personal feud and requested only traditional Blackjack games resume.

"Don't expect to get any lucky tricks during the tournament," the Russian told Matt.

"Deal," Matt joked.

Bryan excitedly waited for everyone else to leave, then said, "That was kick ass!" He turned to the Englishman and said, "Thanks for backing us up there."

The Englishman merely nodded and said, "I saw it more as an investment than a gamble." With that, he offered a slight, friendly smile and walked away.

"Strange guy," Matt commented, "but he seems able to pick a winner. I wonder if he's a duelist."

"No joke," Bryan agreed. "I've seen enough of the casino for now. Let's head back to the room and get ready for tomorrow before I start to get greedy. Re-doubling your money is going against the odds, and I'm not in the mood to lose anything after that. I could afford almost two pairs of shoes for Lucy with this, or I cold buy her about a dozen necklaces."

Matt laughed at the implication that shoes are so much more expensive than jewelry, but he agreed with the sentiment; he preferred not to gamble on a game of luck. The tournament would be more able skill.

* * *

Only in Gathas a few hours and already making waves? Gambling foreigners who scoff at big bills? How cliché. But in my defense, this is one cliché that is grounded in truth.  
We've now seen one brief duel in which the players use no monsters. This tournament will be complete within five chapters; what kinds of deck limitations will we see?

Bryan and Matt compete in Round 1 of the tournament, and they do it without Normal summoning a single monster.  
The tournament also brings a variety of duelists, some of whom are familiar with Duel Academy and the duelists chosen to teach the developing minds.  
Next up: When You Can't Normal Summon

When I finish with this tournament, Part I of this story will be complete. I have some plot details for Part II ready to go, but I am looking for some original characters if anyone would like to submit any. I just need the following information:  
Name; Physical appearance; Brief biography of major life events; High school clique (e.g., jock, computer nerd, band geek...); Feelings about dueling; Where you came up with the name (to sate my curiosity).


	15. When You Can't Normal Summon

Chapter 15: When You Can't Normal Summon

The wake-up phone call came at seven o'clock. Whereas Bryan had to drag himself out of bed, Matt was already up and had been since five-thirty.

"Good morning, duelist. This is your seven a.m. wake-up call. The tournament will begin at 8:00. You have one hour to prepare a deck meeting the requirements of today. During today's duel, you will have only 4000 Life Points and will be unable to Normal summon or set any monsters." Matt sat up and rubbed his face to stimulate the blood flow. He looked over at Bryan who was finishing his morning exercises while watching TV.

"Guess what our limit is for today," Bryan said.

"No cards?" Matt suggested.

"That's tomorrow. Today, we're not allowed to Normal summon or set any monsters."

"No monsters? Oh, no Normal summons. I guess that means Special Summons only."

"I would assume that's what it means. I'm not hurt too much. My fusions are all Special Summons. And you've got all kinds of Special Summon effects for the Dark Magician."

Matt nodded. "Yeah. One thing this guarantees is certain monsters won't be seen today. No spirit monsters, for instance. They can't be Special Summoned. A lot of big, powerful monsters can't be, either."

"Could still be tough to keep monsters on the field," Bryan commented.

"Maybe, but I think I have a few cards that will come in handy. Make sure you have at least a couple of cards to help protect from Direct Damage. If we can't Normal Summon, I imagine a lot of people will try running burn decks."

Fifteen minutes before call time for the tournament, Leona walked into the room. She noticed the couch pulled out into a bed with blankets draped over the side. Bryan sat on the other couch in front of the TV with his cards in front of him. He looked up and reacted with a start when he saw Leona just standing there quietly.

"Put your pants back on, bro," Bryan called out. "We have company."

"I bibn't hear a mock," Matt said. He came out of the bathroom shirtless but wearing pants and with a toothbrush in his mouth. "Hi, Leona." He leaned back into the bathroom long enough to spit, then said, "I guess you have easy access to anyone's room, don't you?"

"I do," she replied. "Are you boys ready for the first round?"

"Pretty much," Bryan said, "but don't we still have fifteen minutes?"

"You do. I hoped you boys would be my guests and join me in the balcony seats."

"We would love to join you," Matt said almost dreamily. "Just let me put some real clothes on." He stepped into the bedroom and closed the door, emerging a moment later wearing khaki pants and a red polo shirt.

He and Bryan grabbed their decks, then followed Leona to the elevator. She took them to the first floor and to the balcony sitting above the ground floor theater. The theater was enormous and typically the setting for stage plays. But today the stage was designated the location for duels. People were beginning to find seats in the theater, many of them opting to sit alone so they could alter their decks without spies.

"I thought it would be nice for you to begin the tournament, Mr. Knight," Leona said. She motioned toward Dexter, who was basically designated as the boys' personal assistant for the weekend. He offered Bryan a brand new Next Generation Duel Disk, the same make and model as the one he demonstrated the previous night.

"Awesome!" Bryan answered. "I get to use this?"

"And keep it," Leona consented. "Compliments of the Denkard."

Armed with his brand new Duel Disk and eager to begin the tournament with a bang, Bryan followed Dexter down the hall and the stairs to the backstage area to set up and meet his opponent. It was Biljana Jovan, the Eastern European lady from the Blackjack tables the night before.

"I am fortunate," Biljana said, "to have my first round against a kid. It will make outsmarting you much easier."

"As long as you duel better than you gamble," Bryan said, "I should actually have a bit of a challenge."

Bryan and Biljana walked out on stage and activated their Duel Disks. Bryan had trouble hiding the excitement he felt from experiencing a Duel Disk firsthand. Leona stood and gave a brief introduction to the duelists. Biljana Joven was from a family of duelists and had a professional record of 81-13. Bryan Knight was a freshman duelist at Duel Academy with a professional tournament record of 31-2.

When she sat, Leona told Matt, "I do hope your friend is able to put on a decent show."

"Don't worry about him," Matt told her. "Next to me, he's the best duelist here."

Randomly selected, Biljana was the one to start the duel. "I'll begin with activating Toon World," she said. "It costs me 1000 Life Points, but I may now summon Toon monsters, all of which count as Special Summons. First I'll play Toon Mermaid (4/1400/1500), but then I'll Tribute her to summon Toon Dark Magician Girl (6/2000/1700). Now I'll set a card and end my turn." Bryan 4000: Biljana 4000 – 1000 = 3000.

"Not a bad start," Bryan said. "That was a brilliant way to get around the no-normal-summons rule. But I have a way, too. You ready? I'll play Polymerization to fuse Elemental Heroes Sparkman and Clayman into Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (6/2400/1500). Now when I discard one card, I can destroy one monster on the field with less attack power than Thunder Giant's (2400), so your Toon Dark Magician Girl (2000) is destroyed. That leaves your field open for attack."

"Hold on," Biljana said. "My facedown card is Scapegoat. It summons four Sheep Tokens (1/0/0) in defense mode to protect my Life Points."

Bryan thought for a moment, then said, "I'll destroy a Sheep Token. Then I will set a card."

"Then allow me to Tribute two of my Sheep Tokens to summon the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon (8/3000/2500)," Biljana said. Sheep Tokens can't be used for Normal summons, but they can be used for Special Summons. "Fortunately for you, Toons may not attack on the same turn as summoning. I'll set one other card."

"Not so lucky for you," Bryan said. "I'll play Fusion Gate."

"Not this time," Biljana said. "My Trap is Imperial Order, which negates all Spells. Toon World is untouched because it is already out."

"Ooh," Bryan groaned. "Well, then. I'll destroy the other Token and end my turn."

"My turn," Biljana said, "and I'll use my Toon's special ability to attack you directly." Bryan 4000 – 3000 = 1000: Biljana 3000.

"Nice play," Bryan told her. "This will be tough. I'll place activate De-Fusion to summon Clayman (800) and Sparkman (1600) back to the field, ging me two available Tributes for Elemental Hero Bladedge (7/2600/1800). I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

Leona explained to Matt that she allowed him to invite a friend to the tournament with him so he wouldn't feel alone and surrounded by older duelists. She never expected his guest would be capable of winning during the tournament. Matt assured her that Bryan would win; he could just feel it.

"My draw," Biljana said.

"Don't bother," Bryan told her. "My facedown card is called Edge Hammer. By Tributing my Bladedge, I can destroy one monster on the field, like your Blue-Eyes Toon (3000). What's more important is that by destroying a monster in this way, I can deal damage to your Life Points equal to the attack power of your destroyed monster."

Biljana looked absolutely shocked. "I lost?" she said. Bryan 1000: Biljana 3000 – 3000 = 0.

"It sure looks that way, doesn't it?" Bryan replied, pleased with himself for winning despite having only half the usual Life Points. Every move is so much more crucial when you don't have a decent supply of Life Points to buffer an attack.

Surprisingly, Matt's duel was the last of the day. Once a duel was played, a duelist was allowed to leave and get lunch or spend time in the city, but most stayed to see the duels. After all, they had money riding on the outcomes. But everyone came back for Matt's duel. A kid doesn't get sponsored by the Arbus Foundation without showing a lot of potential, even if the odds makers still put the odds high against Matt winning.

As it turned out, Matt's opponent went down in two turns. Matt managed to use a strategy similar to the one that got him accepted to Duel Academy. Dark Magic Curtain brought out the Dark Magician, Megamorph doubled its points, and Dedication Through Light and Darkness brought out the Dark Magician of Chaos for the coup de grace.

"I hope you weren't counting on him taking his time," Bryan commented to Leona.

"I expected no less," Leona replied.

At another late dinner, Bryan and Matt got to meet Darcy Purves, an Australian duelist who lost in the first round but stuck around because he was impressed by the tournament and his company already paid for the room. He wanted to meet the guys because they were the youngest duelists by a long shot, yet they each won their first-round duels.

"Duel Academy, yeah?" he asked after the introductions. "I guess you know Maya Kawamura, then."

"Yeah; she's the faculty supervisor of my house," Bryan answered.

"Sorry to hear that, mate," Darcy replied jokingly. When asked for an explanation, he said, "She used to be a real tight ass in school. Always cautious of everyone, judging them the second she met them. Everything had to conform to her way, too."

"That sounds like her," Bryan said. "She hates me because she thinks I'm too young and inexperienced to be associated with her duelist house."

"You're proving her wrong here, eh? Your duel earlier was mighty impressive. I look forward to seeing what you gents can do tomorrow."

Matt asked Darcy if he knew of any embarrassing stories he might share about Maya or the other Duel Academy faculty members.

"I don't really have much to tell about Maya. She was the kind of kid so smart you were sure she was up to something; she never talked much to other people. She did have one boyfriend that I can remember, though I'm blanking on his name. He was much friendlier, but he was also unlikely to join us for happy hour and similar social gatherings.

"As for your other faculty members, I don't really know much about them. I know that Kevin Lankford fellow got the job at Duel Academy because he's related to the bloke that owns Kaiba Corp."

"Dr. Lankford is descended from Seto Kaiba?" Matt interpreted. "That's awesome. Talk about job security. I wonder if he has a Kaiba family deck."

In the middle of a conversation about the Kaiba lineage and whether or not dueling was a heritable trait, the Englishman from the previous night appeared and whispered something in Leona's ear. A moment later, she excused herself from the table.

"Who is that guy?" Bryan asked Darcy.

"That's Sebastian Arbus. He's well known for being rich, connected, and magnanimous. He's always providing young duelists with scholarships to attend schools and tournaments. He's apparently got a good eye, too, because he's also known for being lucky."

"Arbus," Bryan repeated. He looked at Matt and said, "Isn't that the scholarship you got to attend Duel Academy?"

"I think so. It sounds familiar, anyway; I admit I stopped caring about where the money was coming from after they paid my tuition."

Darcy added, "Word is the Arbus Foundation sponsored you to be here, too. I guess Sebastian there wanted to see you duel in person. Checking up on his investment, I suppose."

"What's his relationship with Leona?" Bryan wondered. He conjectured they were intimate.

"I wouldn't know. I don't know Leona's personal life. They aren't married, for sure, but who knows the depth of their relationship? As far as I know, they're just business acquaintances."

Matt just nodded. He was oddly quiet in Bryan's opinion, and so he brought it up when the boys were alone in the suite again.

"What's going on?" he asked. "You've been all weird today."

"I'm not sure. I just… feel weird when I'm around Leona."

Bryan put on a dirty grin and purred loudly. "It sounds like you have the hots for the old lady. Granted, she's a gorgeous old lady, but if I don't hose you down, I might have to tell Kasumi that you've been mentally cheating on her all weekend."

"It's not like that," Matt argued. "It's just a… feeling. I feel strong… healthy… lucky. I don't know a good way to explain it.

"And if you tell Kas about her, I'll have to hurt you."

* * *

This one turned out way shorter than I expected it to. I guess that gives me plenty of time to get up a new chapter by Monday. Admittedly, I'm mostly doing this as a way to play some duels with weird rules, but some of the people stuff will come back later in the story.

In Round 2 of the Limitations Tournament, Bryan struggles to keep his Life Points up in a timed duel. Matt tries to build a fast deck without spells or traps.  
Next up: Life Points Go Up?


	16. Life Points Go Up?

Chapter 16: Life Points Go Up?

The next day went similarly, except the tournament didn't last quite as long because half of the invited duelists were already eliminated. Bryan got to start the festivities again, but rather than having one rule to apply to all duels for the day, the second round was split into the morning duels and the afternoon duels. Each duel during the round didn't necessarily follow the same rules; Bryan's limitations and Matt's limitations were different for the second round.

"I wonder why I get the duel where the result doesn't matter," Bryan thought aloud. Put specifically, Bryan's duel was a timed duel—fifteen minutes. Regardless of one player's points reaching zero or either player running out of cards, the winner would be declared based on who had more Life Points at the exact moment the duel ended. That means a player could fall below 0 Life Points and still win as long as he or she could climb back out of the hole before the duel ended.

"Do you have a game plan?" Matt asked him.

"I always have a game plan. It just depends on the game plan of my opponent."

"Fair point. I'll be waiting for you to win, Bro."

Matt sat on the balcony with Leona again while Bryan faced off against the Russian from the Blackjack table the other night. Vladimir Dmitrovitch was a relatively new duelist by numbers, but he was a longtime Poker champion and had a reign in several various gambling establishments. His professional record for Duel Monsters was 43-16.

"I'm looking forward to this," Vlad told Bryan. "Here is where I earn back my money."

"Oh, you bet on me to win?" Bryan mocked.

"Make stupid jokes. This duel is one you cannot win."

Vlad got to begin the duel. "I'll summon Fire Princess (4/1300/1500). Then I'll activate Dian Keto the Cure Master. This card gives me 1000 LP, and Fire Princess's effect activates; when I increase my LP, you lose 500. Now I'll put two cards facedown and end my turn." Bryan 8000 – 500: Vlad 8000 + 1000 = 9000.

"Nice start," Bryan said. "Let's compare it to mine, shall we? I'll start by summoning Elemental Hero Wildheart (4/1500/1600), a monster who's immune to Traps. He'll attack Fire Princess (1300), then I'll put a card facedown as well."

"I'll chain both my cards to your End Phase," Vlad said. "Solemn Wishes is Continuous Trap that gives me 500 LP every time I draw. And Scapegoat summons four Sheep Tokens (1/0/0) to my field in defense mode."

"Then I guess _that_ ends my turn," Bryan correct himself. Bryan 7500: Vlad 9000 – 200 = 8800.

"Then I'll draw and take 500 points. Now I'll play Graceful Charity, a Spell that lets me draw three cards and discard any two from my hand. And of course, I drew again, so Solemn Wishes gives me another 500 points. Then I'll play Token Thanksgiving; this destroys all my Sheep Tokens and gives me 800 LP for each. Now I'll set one card facedown and a monster in defense mode." Bryan 7500: Vlad 8800 + 500 + 500 + 800*4 = 13,000.

"Sheesh," Bryan huffed. "That's a lot of points."

"You will never catch me," Vlad warned. "You might as well give up now."

"What fun would that be?" Bryan asked. "First I'll use this Spell called E – Emergency Call. It lets me move any Elemental Hero from my deck to my hand. Now I'll activate Polymerization to fuse Wildheart and Bladedge to summon Elemental Hero Wildedge (8/2600/2300). Now I'll play H – Heated Heart, which increases Wildedge's (+3100) AP by 500. And I'll use him to attack your monster."

"My monster is Nimble Momonga (100)," Vlad announced. "His defense is low, but when he's sent to the Graveyard by battle, I gain 1000 LP. In addition, I get to set any more Nimble Momonga I might have in my deck on the field. So I get to put two more of them facedown."

"That's no good," Bryan commented. "But the piercing damage H – Heated Heart lets Wildedge do far outweighs your LP gain. And I can still clear your field; Wildedge (3100) has the ability to attack every monster on your side of the field in the same Battle Phase."

"You do realize you just gave me 2000 more LP?" Vlad checked.

"Yes. But I took away so many more, you mathematical genius, and now you have no cards in your hand or on the field. That means I'll have the advantage from here on." Bryan 7500: Vlad 13,000 + 1000 – 3000 + 1000 – 3000 + 1000 - 3000 = 7000.

"I'm glad you think so," Vlad told him. "I get 500 LP when I draw, but I also get a special bonus. Marie the Fallen is in my Graveyard, which means I get an extra 200 LP during every one of my Standby Phases. Now I'll place one monster on the field and end my turn." Bryan 7500: Vlad 7000 + 500 + 200 = 7700.

"It's time to wipe you out," Bryan commented. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (3/1200/800). I'll let Wildedge (2600) attack your facedown monster."

"My monster is Kisetai (800)," Vlad announced. "And Kisetai is not destroyed, but rather leeches onto your monster. Now during every one of your turns, I will gain LP equal to half your monster's attack points."

"That's a lot of points," Bryan admitted, "but now your field is open for a direct attack from Burstinatrix (1200). I'll put one more card down and end my turn." Bryan 7500: Vlad 7700 – 1200 = 6500.

"I gain 500 LP from Solemn Wishes and 200 from Marie the Fallen," Vlad reminded Bryan, "which means your attack was basically worthless. Now I'll set a card and end my turn." Bryan 7500: Vlad 6500 + 200 + 500 = 7200.

"No monsters?" Bryan noted. "How useful for me."

"After you draw, I gain 1300 LP for Kisetai's effect."

"I guess that's true," Bryan said, "but what happens if I use R – Righteous Justice? This Spell lets me destroy any number of Traps on the field equal to the number of E-Heroes I have in play. That's two, so I can destroy Kisetai and your facedown card."

"No!" Vlad shouted. "My Mirror Force!"

"Whoa," Bryan huffed. "That was lucky timing. Now I'll summon Elemental Hero Avian (4/1000/1000) to the field and attack you directly with Avian (1000), Burstinatrix (1200), and Wildedge (2600). That ought to do some significant damage. Then I'll place one card down and end my turn." Bryan 7500: Vlad 7200 + 1300 – 1000 – 1200 – 2600 = 3700.

"You have gotten lucky so far," Vlad assured Bryan. "But let me show you a real duelist's power. I'll play Monster Reborn to revive my ultimate monster—Guardian Angel Joan (8/2800/2000). I sent her to the Graveyard a while back when I played Graceful Charity. Now here's what you need to worry about. When she destroys a monster in battle, that monster's power is added to my LP. So prepare to lose your Elemental Hero Wildedge (2600)." Bryan 7500 – 200 = 7300: Vlad 3700 + 500 + 200 + 2600 = 7000.

"I've been prepared this whole duel," Bryan said. "You just never made any moves."

"Well now you have only five minutes to catch up to me, young man. How are you going to manage it?"

"We'll see if I can come up with something," Bryan said. "I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two cards. I'll switch Avian (1000) and Burstinatrix (800) to defense mode."

"Better hurry, boy," Vlad said.

"Hurrying creates messy mistakes," Bryan pointed out. "I still have about two more turns before time runs out." The rules of the tournament did place a strict time limit on each player's turn. They could not waste needless time unless the play was excessively long. A player could not simply get into the lead, then sit there doing nothing for any amount of time lest he risk disqualification.

"We'll see. First I'll take my extra LP. Then I'll put one card facedown and attack Burstinatrix (1200) with Guardian Angel Joan (2800). I gain 1200 LP from your monster, and now the duel is over." Bryan 7300: Vlad 7000 + 500 + 200 + 1200 = 8900.

"Not until the last card is played," Bryan corrected him. "I'll play O – Oversoul to revive Burstinatrix (1200). Now I'll switch Avian (1000) to attack mode, I'll summon Sparkman (1600), and now I'll play Hero Flash!! This spell—that I added to my deck just for this duel—activates when H, E, R, and O spells are all in my Graveyard. I get to summon one more Elemental Hero from my deck—like Elemental Hero Neos (7/2500/2000)—and all normal monsters get to attack directly this turn." Bryan 7300: Vlad 8900 – 1000 – 1200 – 1600 – 2500 = 2600.

"My facedown card is called Luminous Healer—it gives me 1000 LP when you damage me."

The timer rang at that moment, indicating that time was up. Bryan looked pleasantly surprised, but Vlad looked absolutely horrified.

"I was in control for the entire duel. How did he manage to win?"

Bryan grinned and said, "That's what you get for playing defense the whole time. There are some cards out there that can do some serious Life Point increasing, but there are very few that let you win when you never attack. My strategy was to keep hitting you instead of buffing myself."

He walked off the stage thinking to himself, "_I should get some award for taking out so many Life Points in only fifteen minutes._" He did deal 21,500 total Life Points in damage during that duel, and so maybe his assertion wasn't unreasonable.

----------

When it came time for Matt's duel, with different rules from those limitations placed on Bryan's duel, Bryan asked Leona, "Where did you come up with this crazy rule? Neither player can use any Spells or Traps?"

"Do you think Matt cannot win with these constraints?" Leona asked him.

"That's not it. I just think it's stupid. Matt was less vocal with his objections."

Matt and Hiro Hyuuga, the aged Japanese national champion, walked out on stage and activated their Duel Disks. Leona stood and gave a brief speech introducing the duelists. Hiro Hyuuga was descended from a family among the first professional duelists, and had a professional record of 301-0. Matt Luther was a freshman duelist at Duel Academy with a flair for dueling, demonstrated by his official tournament record of 22-0. It was pretty clear the crowd disagreed about his flair, but the duel was going to start with or without their agreement.

Matt was granted the first turn. "I'll start by placing a monster in defense mode."

"I summon Gladiator Beast Laquari (4/1800/400) and attack your monster."

"My monster is Big Shield Gardna (4/100/2600)," Matt told him. "His defense is higher than your attack, so you take the recoil damage."

Hiro nodded. "I can send Laquari back to my deck and summon Gladiator Beast Octavius (7/2500/1200)." Matt was surprised by the play and needed a quick lesson on Gladiator Beasts, but that was all Hiro could do for now; having no spells or traps in the deck really limited the number of plays per turn. Matt 8000: Hiro 8000 – 800 = 7200.

"I'll summon Magical Scientist (1/300/300). When I pay 1000 LP, I can summon a fusion monster from my fusion deck, even without spell cards. I'll start by summoning Dark Flare Knight (6/2200/800). I'll pay another 2000 LP to summon two copies of Sanwitch (6/2100/1800). None of the monsters summoned this way can attack you directly, so I'm going to exchange them for other monsters. I'll send both Sanwitch monsters to the Graveyard to Special Summon my Sorcerer of Dark Magic (9/3200/2800), a powerful spellcaster that can only be summoned by Tributing two level six or higher spellcasters.

"Now I'll attack Octavius (2500), starting with Dark Flare Knight (2200)." He expected Hiro to make a comment, but no such luck; Hiro already knew Dark Flare Knight's effect. "I take no damage from this recoil, but by destroying Dark Flare Knight, I can summon Mirage Knight (8/2800/2000) from my deck. Now he'll attack, and when he does, Mirage Knight (+5300) gains AP equal to your monster's AP." Matt watched the holographic Knight slash through the giant, humanoid eagle. "Now Sorcerer of Dark Magic (3200), Magical Scientist (300), and Big Shield Gardna (100) can attack you directly." Matt 8000 – 1000 – 1000 – 1000 = 5000: Hiro 7200 – 2800 – 3200 – 300 – 100 = 800.

Luckily for Hiro, the Mirage Knight was removed from play at the end of the turn, but the other monsters stuck around. He knew the duel was basically over.

"I summon Gladiator Beast Hoplomus (4/700/2100). He attacks Magical Scientist (300). Then I can return him to my deck and summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo (3/800/400); when he is summoned like this, he destroys a monster on your field—Sorcerer of Dark Magic." Matt 5000 – 400 = 4600: Hiro 800.

Matt laughed and said, "Dude, nice! Awesome play, and without Magical Scientist, I can't summon more fusion monsters. Unfortunately, I still have Magician's Valkyria (4/1600/1800), and she's exactly strong enough to end this duel." Matt 4600: Hiro 800 – 800 = 0.

As Matt shook Hiro's hand, they had a brief discussion of some of the spells and traps that support the Gladiator Beasts, and suddenly Matt was glad neither player could use them or he may not have won, and definitely not so easily.

* * *

I didn't expect this one to be so short. These duels were based on actual decks I built with a friend of mine (which made writing them down a lot easier, too). Although times would certainly vary on the 15-minute duel, my duel went close enough that I saw no need to push myself to extend it. The second one was mainly lucky draws on Matt's part combined with the versatility of spellcasters over other types to support themselves without spells or traps.

Only two chapters left for "Duel Academy." Bryan and Matt team up in a Tag Team duel with a unique limitation set; the guys can only use monsters of 1000 AP or fewer while they're opponents use only Ritual monsters. Can they make it to the final round?  
Next up: A Tag with a Catch

As an additional note, I have a pretty detailed outline for the next story, and so I pretty much know what will happen. If you would still like to contribute an original character, I can probably fit him or her into the periphery somewhere, or I can keep the character in the vault until the third story. I don't know exactly what will happen in the third story yet, but because it will be a new school year, the Guard Trio will be gone and a new freshman class will move in, leaving room for a lot of new characters.


	17. A Tag with a Catch

Chapter 17: A Tag with a Catch

Bryan and Matt awoke the next morning even before the wakeup call and spent an extra hour eating breakfast and searching their cards while Matt did his morning workout. They had no idea what the next limitation would be, but they at least wanted to make sure they had enough cards to fit most anything that could be imposed upon them. All they knew was that the next round of the tournament would pretty much decide who the winners are.

"Did you know the Gladiator Beasts can use contact fusion?" Bryan asked as he looked up some of the cards on his laptop.

"Really? Isn't that what your cards do?"

Bryan grinned. "It is. Maybe you should have used that deck for that duel yesterday."

Matt made a face and said, "I won, didn't I?"

The phone rang, and the voice on the other end said, "Bryan Knight and Matt Luther. You are among the final four duelists in the Limitations Tournament, and the final duel will be a Tag-Team Duel. You have twenty minutes to prepare your decks with monsters that have no more than 1000 attack points."

Bryan relayed the information to Matt.

"Monsters with less than 1000 attack points," Matt repeated. "Great. I was just thinking this Tournament wasn't tricky enough."

"Don't sweat, dude. We can still get plenty of power out of smaller monsters. Your Magical Scientist can kick some serious butt that way. And don't forget, we do have one very powerful monster with zero points who gains power very quickly."

Matt shook his head. "We can't use your god card. That's just not right, plus I think you're mostly forbidden from doing so." He softly added, "It is tempting, though."

When the time came, Matt and Bryan came to the stage on the ground floor and exchanged greetings with their opponents. Henry McNally was an American professional who recently won the Kaiba Cup. His partner Denise Verdin was the Canadian national Duel Monsters champion. Upon meeting these two, Matt and Bryan learned this stage of the Limitations Tournament was vastly different.

"We had to make decks with monsters weaker than 1000 points, and you got to make decks with Ritual monsters?" Matt explained. "So while we use little guys, you get to load the field with some real powerhouses." It was no wonder the odds makers put 10:1 odds on McNally and Verdin.

"That's what it seems like," Henry said.

"Sweet!" Bryan replied. "This is going to be such an awesome duel!"

Denise explained to Matt—who was not arguing fairness anyway—that she and Henry didn't get to make decks based around Ritual monsters, but decks where the _only_ monsters they could have were Ritual monsters. That means monsters like Sonic Bird and Senju of the Thousand Hands that help retrieve Ritual cards were off-limits.

"I'm sure you'll put up a good fight anyways," Bryan said. "Now let's get this party started."

Before they got started, Matt whispered to Bryan, "I'm starting to think the odds were purposefully stacked against us."

"Why? Like as a test?"

"No, dude. I think it's more like… an investment."

"What do you mean?"

Matt expressed his reluctance to support a conspiracy theory, but he pointed out, "The odds have been against us this whole tournament, yet we still win fairly handily. What if we were selected to participate in this tournament because of a combination of our skill _and_ our inexperience?"

Bryan thought for a moment, then suggested, "That could make someone very rich. Maybe so rich he's willing to sponsor two unsung duelists to participate in his tournament because the returns will be so huge."

Matt's eyes widened at Bryan's words. "And he's working with Leona because she can make sure we're never the favorite!"

"We figured it out!" Both guys started doing a small, excited victory dance in place, roughly translated as "bad dancing in public."

"Do you guys need a minute?" Denise asked them. The boys quickly got their acts together and got set up in their respective spots on stage to activate their Duel Disks.

A Tag-Team Duel involves a two-on-two match up, with each team standing next to one another opposite the opposing team. Each player has a separate deck, Graveyard, and Extra deck, and a separate monster zone and spell/trap zone, but they share one Life Point total of 8000. Players alternate turns with one another and with their opponents. Otherwise, the rules are largely the same.

Denise got the first move. "I'll set a card and activate Samsara. Then I'll play Ritual of Grace and discard Black Luster Soldier (8) to Ritual summon Divine Grace – Northwemko (7/2700/1200)."

Ritual monsters can be summoned through special Ritual Spells as long as the player sends monsters whose cumulative levels are equal to or higher than the level of the Ritual monster; in this case, Northwemko's (7) level was matched by the higher level of the Black Luster Soldier (8). And not only could Ritual summoning provide high-level monsters during the first turn, they were almost all very powerful, especially when compared to their opponents, whose monsters had no more than 1000 AP.

"But the effect of Samsara sends my monster back to my deck instead of to my Graveyard," Denise continued, "and Northwemko's effect allows her to connect to Samsara in order to protect herself from card effects as long as Samsara stays on the field." She ended her turn and deferred in order to Bryan.

"I'll start us off," Bryan said. "Let's play Card Destruction to discard our hands and draw new ones. Now I'll summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman (4/800/1200), and when I don't control any other cards, I can draw two more cards. And I'll play Graceful Charity so I can draw three more cards and discard two, just because I'm being picky with my hand." He looked over it for a moment and let out a quick, excited yipping sound. "I'll use Metamorphosis to change Bubbleman into Elemental Hero Neo Bubbleman (4/800/1200), and I'll equip Neo Bubbleman (+1600) with Bubble Blaster to raise his AP by 800. How's that for getting around the AP limit?"

Henry just grinned at Bryan's overzealous reaction to a monster barely half as powerful as the one Denise summoned.

"I'll also set two cards," Henry decided, "and use Pot of Greed to draw two more cards."

Matt was more disappointed with his opening hand, but at least he had something to play. "I'll start with a facedown monster and one facedown card." Bryan gave him a hard time for not summoning one of his monsters with a kick-ass effect.

"I guess I get the first attack," Denise noted. "I'll have Northwemko (2700) attack Neo Bubbleman (1600)."

"I can send Bubble Blaster to the Graveyard to protect my Life Points and Neo Bubbleman (-800)," Bryan said, "and Bubbleman's effect activates to destroy any monster that battles with him."

"I know Neo Bubbleman's effect," Denise assured him. "Northwemko's effect says that she can't be destroyed by card effects as long as Samsara is on the field."

"Oh, right," Bryan groaned as he drew his next card. "I'll set two cards on my field and end my turn."

Henry drew next. "I'll activate Shinato's Ark and discard The Masked Beast to summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane (8/3300/3000), and I'll equip him with Fairy Meteor Crush. I'll send him to attack Matt's facedown monster."

"My monster is Big Shield Gardna (4/100/2600)," Matt revealed.

"Well, Fairy Meteor Crush gives Shinato (3300) piercing damage, and her effect inflicts further damage by your monster's AP, but neither one was quite as damaging as I'd hoped." Bryan 8000 – 700 – 100 = 7200: Denise 8000.

On Matt's turn, he said, "I'm still tapped out. I'll set another monster and two more cards."

Denise drew and said, "I'll have Northwemko (2700) attack your Neo Bubbleman (800), who you carelessly left in attack mode."

"Who's being careless?" Bryan asked. "I'll play Mirror Gate, which makes our monsters switch sides when they battle, and I'll also chain Alchemy Cycle to lower Bubbleman's (-0) AP to zero for this turn."

"I have a chain, too," Matt said. "I'll play Dust Tornado to destroy Samsara; now when Northwemko (2700) battles Neo Bubbleman (0), his effect will still take place and destroy her."

And because all effects resolve in the opposite order they were activated, Samsara was destroyed first, then Neo Bubbleman's (-0) points fell, then Bubbleman and Northwemko switched sides of the field for the battle. In this way, Denise took the battle damage for having the smaller monster on her field, Neo Bubbleman was destroyed by battle, and Northwemko was destroyed by Neo Bubbleman's effect.

"Damn," was Denise's eloquent response. "I'll set two cards and end my turn." Bryan 7200: Denise 8000 – 2700 = 5300.

"Destroying my monster when it was affected by Alchemy Cycle," Bryan added, "lets me draw a card, too, just so you know." Then he drew for his turn. "I'll place a monster in defense mode and play Polymerization to fuse Elemental Hero Avian with King of the Swamp to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (6/2100/1800) in defense mode."

Henry's turn was more productive. "I'll play Contract with the Dark Master and discard a Shinato from my hand to summon Dark Master – Zorc (8/2700/1500), and I'll chain a copy of Nightmare Archfiends. Nightmare Archfiends summons three Nightmare Archfiend Tokens (6/2000/2000) to Bryan's field. I'll use Zorc's ability to roll a die." The holographic projectors created a giant die and rolled it, changing the angle so that everyone could see the result: 2. "All monsters on Bryan's field are destroyed, and you take 800 points of damage when a Nightmare Archfiend Token is destroyed."

"Duly noted," Bryan said. "My monster is Sangan (3/1000/600), which means I can put King of the Swamp (3/500/1100) from my deck in my hand."

"I'll send Shinato (3300) to destroy Matt's facedown monster."

"I'll activate Multiply, which turns my one Kuriboh (1/300/200) into five Kuriboh Tokens (1/300/200). You still want to attack?"

"Why? What have you got?"

"Detonating," Matt answered. "I destroy all Kuriboh-type monsters on my field, and then I destroy cards on your field until I reach the same number. I'll destroy your two monsters, your facedown card, and both your partner's facedown cards."

Denise was not terribly frustrated by the loss of her Mirror Force and Sakuretsu Armor; she didn't realize before the duel that her opponents wouldn't have the monster strength to attack much. Bryan 7200 – 2100 – 800 = 4300: Denise 5300.

"My turn," Matt announced. "I'll summon Sangan (3/1000/600) and attack directly, then set a card." Bryan 4300: Denise 5300 – 1000 = 4300.

Denise drew. "Finally, I get a card I can play. Preparation of Rites lets me move Garandolph, Devil King of Destruction to my hand from my deck and Ritual of Destruction from my Graveyard. By playing Ritual of Destruction and discarding another Black Luster Soldier (8), I can summon Garandolph, Devil King of Destruction (7/2500/1400); when he's summoned, all face-up monsters on the field are destroyed and he gains 100 AP for each."

"Bye-bye, Sangan," Matt relayed, "but now I can put Magical Scientist (1/300/300) into my hand."

"And now you lose a big chunk of Life Points." Bryan 4300 – 2600 = 1700: Denise 4300.

"You feeling left out?" Bryan replied. "I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two cards, and one of them is Premature Burial; for 800 LP, I can revive Flame Wingman (2100) from my Graveyard, but now I'll play Polymerization to fuse Flame Wingman with King of the Swamp and summon a _bigger_ hero: Shining Flare Wingman (8/+3700/2100)! He gains 300 points for each hero in my Graveyard, and he's still got Flame Wingman's effect; when he destroys your Garandolph (2600), you take effect damage equal to your monster's AP."

"We're not done yet," Matt said. "I'll play De-Fusion to summon Flame Wingman (2100) back to your field during the Battle Phase. An attack with him should end the duel." Bryan 1700: Denise 4300 – 1100 – 2600 – 2100 = 0.

With that, Bryan and Matt were one step from becoming champions of the Limitations Tournament. But which of them would emerge on top? And more importantly, who would the odds makers favor?

The eyes that watched closest now approached for a final confrontation.

* * *

One more chapter to finish the first part of the story. Bryan and Matt will experience a tag team duel once more, but while the rules limit the cards used by the guys, their opponent has no limitations and uses a deck of unique monsters never seen by any Duel Academy students.  
Next up: The Nearly Ultimate Power

With regards to Dimensiondude's review, I have this explanation for my writing style. I am not a fan of anime comedy. My response to that is the same as my response about the lack of personality changes with my characters: I tried to write these characters into a realistic world (i.e., something you and I might experience if we majored in dueling in college). When you experience the same basic schedule day after day, there's not a lot of change to your character, and most people don't defy physics for a joke (e.g., kicking a frustrating person through the air). As far as describing the monsters, spells, and traps... I might be able to do that. My reluctance so far is a result of using real cards that anyone can look up combined with the fact that dueling is mostly a bonding method. (I didn't do it with this chapter because I don't want to spend another three hours describing all the cards today.) The realism aspect is still what keeps the monsters looking like transparent holograms, though; technology just isn't advanced enough to make monsters completely opaque regardless of the distance from the projectors.

I'm happy to debate the realism angle more. Just know that I'm not ignoring Dimensiondude's advice; I simply disagree with some of it.


	18. The Nearly Ultimate Power

Chapter 18: The Nearly Ultimate Power

"Just as I predicted; you were the most powerful duelist here, and you haven't even tapped your full potential."

The final morning of the tournament, Leona contacted Bryan and Matt in their room about the final duel they needed to determine a winner of the tournament.

"Do we have to duel each other?" Bryan asked. "'Cause I can already tell you that won't work very well. We always seem to tie. The only thing that really distinguishes us is dancing; I'm way better."

"In my defense," Matt said, "I have two left knees."

Leona chuckled. "As much as I would enjoy watching you two duel it out, I have a more interesting idea in mind. You two are going to battle with me."

"With you?" Matt repeated. "I guess I'm not too surprised. A lot of tournaments include a final duel against the sponsor. But the two of us against only you? That's got to be pretty rare, right?"

Leona nodded and said, "You would do well not to underestimate me. Here are your deck limitations. I'll see you downstairs in twenty minutes." She handed the boys a note card and turned to leave the boys with their decks.

"Are you kidding me?" Bryan asked. "This is going to be even harder than the last duel."

"What's the diagnosis?"

"Only one of us can use monsters while the other can only use spells and traps. That means we'd have to coordinate our decks incredibly well to make effective plays."

"So for example, you use monsters and only monsters while I use spells and traps with no monsters. Is that right?"

Bryan nodded. "Is that how you want to try it?"

"That will probably be best," Matt noted. "You use the Elemental Heroes while I try to support you. The Heroes are more flexible than the Dark Magician and I know them pretty well because you taught me how to duel and you haven't changed your deck since you started dueling, so it makes sense."

"Yeah, I was hoping you'd say that. I don't want to go into a duel without my boys. Now let's try to figure this out."

Every one of the losing duelists stayed to watch the final duel. Even Vlad and Biljana stayed despite their mixed hatred-jealousy toward the "impressively lucky" student duelists. They still had their money bet against Bryan and Matt, but some people are just incredibly stubborn despite history. Leona wore an elaborate gown that made her seem regal, whereas Matt wore slacks and a shirt and tie, and Bryan wore jeans and a polo shirt; it was obvious who took wardrobe more seriously.

"This duel will be more difficult than any you've faced yet," Leona warned the two.

"Bring it on," Bryan challenged.

Matt was granted the first turn. "I'll start this off with two facedown cards and activate Skyscraper."

"I'll follow up by summoning Elemental Hero Wildheart (4/1500/1600) in attack mode."

"Now let me show you what you are up against," Leona said. "I'll summon Divine Spark – Khshathra Vairya (4/1300/2500)." A muscular angel with metallic wings knelt on the field and curled his wings in front of himself in a defensive position. "This is a special monster that switches to defense mode as soon as it is summoned. I'll set one card and end my turn."

"That's going to be a big card to get by," Matt commented. "A level four monster with such high defense and what sounds like a Persian name."

"Very good," Leona commented. "You are much better informed than I thought you were. I'm sure you are full of surprises."

"So am I," Bryan said, so eager to play he skipped Matt's turn. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (4/1600/1400)."

"By summoning, you activated my trap," Leona announced. She activated a card bearing the image of a winged man formed from flame. "Divine Spark – Asha Vahishta negates your summoning and destroys your monster. Then it lets me Special Summon from my hand Divine Spark – Vohu Manah (4/1800/1800). And when he is summoned, I can summon one Vohu Manah Token (4/1800/1800) in defense mode." A large, winged man appeared on the field, half-man and half-bull; immediately afterward, a bull appeared on the field sprouting wings from its shoulders to cover its face.

"This isn't going our way," Matt commented. "We're being overwhelmed already."

"Methinks her deck doth not have the restraints ours do," Bryan agreed. He was right. Leona was using a deck without restrictions. The only limitation she had was dueling against the two best freshman duelists of Duel Academy, and some would argue that wasn't much of a limitation.

"That was a big play," Bryan commented, "but you left Vohu Manah (1800) open for an attack from Wildheart (+2500)."

"Thanks to Skyscraper," Matt explained, "whenever an Elemental Hero battles a monster with more attack points, the Hero gains 1000 points."

"And that ends my turn," Bryan said. Bros 8000: Leona 8000 – 700 = 7300.

"But my game is just starting," Leona said. "I'll offer my Vohu Manah Token as a Tribute to summon Divine Spark – Ameratat (6/2000/1500)." This time, a common broom shrub sprouted on the field shielding a winged woman garbed with wisteria climbing vines. "When a Vohu Manah Token is Tributed, I can Special Summon another Divine Spark – Vohu Manah (1800) from my deck to the field. And when Vohu Manah is Special Summoned, I get a Vohu Manah Token (1800) in defense mode. Now I can let Ameratat (2000) attack Elemental Hero Wildheart (1500)."

"By destroying Wildheart, you've activated my trap," Matt said. "Hero Signal lets my partner summon any low-level Elemental Hero he desires to the field."

"Thanks. I think I'll take Elemental Hero Stratos (300), and use his ability to put Avian in my hand."

"Vohu Manah (1800) still has the opportunity to attack," Leona reminded them.

"And I still have another trap," Matt added. "Reinforce Truth lets my partner summon any level two warrior from the deck."

"I choose Hero Kid (2/300/600), but Hero Kid hates to work by himself; when he's Special Summoned, he summons two more Hero Kids (600) to the field with him," Bryan said as he played three monsters to make up for his losing two. Now his field and Leona's were almost even, but her monsters were slightly bigger.

"I'll end my turn," Leona said. Bros 8000 – 500 = 7500: Leona 7300.

"I'll activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards," Matt said. "Here's what I have. This first card is called Future Fusion; it lets me take Elemental Heroes Necroshade and Sparkman from my partner's deck and put them in the Graveyard. Then in two turns, he gets to fuse them into Elemental Hero Darkbright. Now I'll play Graceful Charity for my partner. That means he gets to draw three cards and discard any two from his hand. Then I'll put a card facedown."

"My turn to rock," Bryan said. "And check out this play; I'll send two of my Hero Kids to the Graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Bladedge (7/2600/1800). One of my favorite Heroes, he's strong enough to destroy Ameratat (2000)."

"But thanks to the power of Spenta Mainyu, my monster will not die," Leona replied cryptically. "When Ameratat is removed from the field, I summon an Immortal Plant Token (1/500/500) in defense mode." A cylindrical tube appeared on the field with ragweeds—silvery green foliage with winged petioles—growing from the middle.

"That's cool," Bryan said. Bros 7500: Leona 7300 – 600 = 6700.

Leona smiled at her cards. "I will put my monsters in defense mode and give you one more turn."

Matt was suspicious by this move, but he accepted it and moved on when the Duel Disk flashed to indicate his turn. "I'll set one more card."

"Now it's time to kick some Divine Spark ass," Bryan taunted. But then he was a little thrown when Elemental Hero Darkbright (6/2000/1000) appeared on his field. Leona reminded him that two of Bryan's Standby Phases passed already, even though only one of Matt's passed. That's one advantage to having Matt and Bryan take separate turns; Bryan's Standby Phases and Matt's Standby Phases are not the same.

"I'll start by having Bladedge (2600) destroy your… Kh-sha-thra Vairya (2500)," Bryan said, having trouble pronouncing the words. "Then Darkbright (2000) will attack a Vohu Manah (1800)."

"I'll play De-Fusion," Matt announced, "and summon Sparkman (1600) and Necroshade (1600) back to Bryan's field."

"Awesome. Thanks, bro. Now both my monsters can use the Skyscraper effect to attack your other Vohu Manah (1800) and its Token (1800) counterpart." Bros 7500: Leona 6700 – 100 – 200 = 6400.

"And at the end of your turn," Leona commented, "I summon another Immortal Plant Token (1/500/500)."

"Another one?" Matt asked.

"As long as Ameratat remains in my Graveyard, I can summon any number of Immortal Plant Tokens until I have two on my field during every End Phase."

"No wonder you call them Immortal," Bryan commented. "How come I've never heard of these cards you're playing?"

Leona grinned and said, "Because they were not created by Industrial Illusions, Kaiba Corp., or any recognized gaming company." She chuckled to herself, offering no further explanation, and continued the game. Whether these were supposed to be some ancient, rare cards or they were just designed to be recognized during this specific tournament, Bryan and Matt still had to deal with them in order to claim the tournament championship.

"I'll summon Divine Spark – Haurvatat (3/600/1000) to my field." This monster was a small, winged, female figure composed entirely of water. She followed by activating a Continuous Spell bearing the image of a winged woman clad in a toga with sand swirling around her body. "Divine Spark – Armaiti gives me incredible power. First, it lets me summon monsters in my Spell Zone. Next, it lets me revive any of my Divine Sparks in the Graveyard, and so I'll summon two Divine Spark – Vohu Manahs (1800), and with each comes a Vohu Manah Token (1800). I can also summon Khshathra Vairya (2500)."

"That's eight monsters!" Matt pointed out.

"Exactly. This is the ultimate test of your ability," Leona explained. "I'll place two cards facedown, then I'll let Vohu Manah (1800) attack Sparkman (1600), Necroshade (1600), and Hero Kid (600)."

Bryan waited through the attacks and expected to see a dip in his Life Points, yet the digital counter remained unchanged. "Hey, what gives?" he asked. "You didn't hurt my Life Points."

"Of course," Leona said. "Armaiti is benevolent and only empowers me in exchange for not harming my opponent. As long as Armaiti remains on the field, my monsters cannot be destroyed by battle and cannot harm your Life Points. My turn ends."

"My turn," Matt said. He grinned at Bryan and said, "Get your socks ready because I'm about to knock them off. I'll activate Polymerization and chain the trap Chain Material; now my partner can remove from his deck Elemental Heroes Ocean and Woodsman to summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero (8/2500/2000). Then I'll set one card and end my turn."

Suddenly the new Hero summoned to the field disappeared and went straight to the Graveyard.

"Any monster summoned via Chain Material is destroyed during the End Phase, and when Absolute Zero is removed from the field, he takes with him every monster on your side of the field. And because this is an effect and not battle, Armaiti can't protect them, right?"

"No," Leona admitted. "But by releasing Haurvatat and Armaiti, I can put my other Divine Sparks into defense mode in order to protect them from destruction during this turn."

"Only the Divine Sparks?" Matt repeated. "That means you still lose your Immortal Plant Tokens and both Vohu Manah Tokens."

"True, the Immortal Plant Tokens (500) come back to my field as long as Ameratat remains in my Graveyard," Leona reminded him.

"You've got to be kidding me," Bryan groaned. "We just can't seem to catch a break."

"We'll be fine," Matt assured him. "We're still ahead on Life Points."

"And maybe the best way to stay ahead is to hit _her_ Life Points," Bryan decided. "I'll summon Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin (3/600/800). When I discard one card, I get to take a look at your hand."

Leona showed her hand with only one monster.

"I guess I'll select Haurvatet," Bryan decided. "Because I have a monster on my field with more AP than Haurvatet (600), your monster is destroyed and you take 500 LP damage." Pleased that his play worked as well as it did, Bryan continued, "Now I'll have Bladedge (2600) attack a Plant Token (500) and inflict piercing damage. Then Aqua Dolphin (600) will put forth the admittedly futile effort of destroying the other one." Bros 7500: Leona 6400 – 500 - 2100 = 3800.

"Two Immortal Plant Tokens (500) return to my field," Leona said. "I will set one card. Now allow me to demonstrate my power; by Tributing both Immortal Plant Tokens and discarding my hand, I can summon to the field Spenta Mainyu (10/2400/4000)."

Bryan and Matt both peered at the hologram oddly, almost being forced to squint to see something. All duel holograms were relatively see-through to enable a duelist see the opponent, but Spenta Mainyu was much more see-through than any other monster. In fact, it was rather amorphous—more like a mist than a creature. Bryan could swear he might be able to make out the general shape of a winged person, but blink once and the image disappeared into the mist.

"What is it?" Bryan asked. "Why can I see through it?"

"Spenta Mainyu is a spirit," Leona explained. "Like a ghost, he cannot be attacked by your monsters, nor can he attack them."

"Then what good is he?" Bryan asked.

"Spenta Mainyu (2000) can attack you directly," Leona clarified. "And Khshathra Vairya (800/2500) can attack from defense mode, targeting your Dolphin (600). And when my turn ends, two Immortal Plant Tokens (500) return to my field." Bros 7500 – 2400 - 200 = 4900: Leona 3800.

"Holy crap," Bryan uttered. "If that thing hits us directly each time, and she's got five other monsters to protect her from a direct hit, how are we going to get rid of her Life Points before she depletes ours?"

"We'll figure it out," Matt assured him as he drew. "For now, we'll use Miracle Fusion to combine the Ocean and Woodsman in Bryan's Graveyard into Elemental Hero Terra Firma (8/2500/2000) and set one card."

"That's a good one," Bryan admitted, "but as long as those Immortal Plant Tokens keep coming back, getting to her Life Points is nearly impossible. The only thing keeping us in this game is Bladedge's (2600) effect." He huffed and said, "Actually, that's not bad. I think I'll have him attack that Plant Token (500)."

Leona's trap card bore a picture of a dozen people bowing in worship before a golden image of a crowned king seated on the body of a phoenix. "You've activated Yazata; it destroys your Elemental Hero Bladedge and increases the attack points of Spenta Mainyu (+5000) by a number equal to your monster's attack points."

"Oh, crap again!" Bryan said anxiously. "She just increased the attack points of a monster that can attack directly to the point where it can wipe us out on the next attack. Any chance that facedown card you just played is Mirror Force?"

Matt shook his head, but Leona added, "It would not matter. Spells and traps cannot be activated when Spenta Mainyu attacks. You do still need to worry, however, because although Yazata normally reduces all Battle Damage from the affected monster to 0, that's only when the monster battles with your monsters."

"And Spenta Mainyu attacks directly," Matt noted. "That's the way around the effect."

"Exactly." Leona sighed heavily and looked at Matt longingly. "I was sincerely hopeful that you would be able to beat me. Perhaps you are not who I hoped you had become."

Bryan shot Matt a look of confusion, which Matt returned to him. _What was she talking about?_

"Spenta Mainyu (5000) will attack directly and end the duel this turn."

As soon as the Duel Disk indicated the start of Leona's Battle Phase and before she could officially declare an attack, Matt activated his facedown card.

"You said traps can't be activated in response to an attack by Spenta Mainyu, but this one activates any time you are in the Battle Phase." He smiled and got a little overly excited as he shouted, "Terra Firma Gravity!"

Bryan laughed loudly and said, "Dude, niiiice!"

"This card forces all your monsters that are level four or lower to attack Bryan's Terra Firma (2500). That means the Immortal Plant Token (500), Khshathra Vairyu (800), and both Vohu Manahs (1800) on your field have to attack Terra Firma."

Bryan started counting Life Points on his fingers, but Leona's monsters, forced to attack a stronger monster, all finished destroying themselves before Bryan even finished calculating. Bros 4900: Leona 3800 – 700 – 700 – 1700 – 2000 = 0.

Leona simply smiled as the Duel Disks shut down and the holograms faded. Bryan and Matt did a quick little victory dance and completed a lame, "cool guy" handshake to celebrate.

"Congratulations. I expected this of you the moment you arrived at my hotel." Leona reached her open hand to Matt and said, "I am honored to have met you. You truly are the future."

Somewhat surprised by her reaction to a loss, Matt blushed and said, "It was fun. Thank you so much for inviting us." He took her hand and held it for a moment. For whatever reason, he felt the urge to hold onto it. He had a sincere desire to embrace her. Maybe he really was attracted to her, or at least her smile, but he snapped out of it and let go when Bryan extended his hand to her.

"Please take this," Leona added as she handed Matt one of her cards.

"Spenta Mainyu?" Matt said. "I can't take this. This is the strongest monster in your deck."

"Please keep it," Leona requested, "not as a prize, but as a souvenir. It will remind you of how strong you were to defeat me. From this moment on, you are even stronger. Remember that during any hardships you face in the future."

"What about me?" Bryan asked excitedly.

Leona smiled and said, "You, too, hold great potential; in fact, I believe that for now, at least, your greatest potential comes from your combined teamwork. Enjoy your trip home. I hope to hear more from you in the future."

With the tournament now at a close and the paperwork filled out to credit Bryan's and Matt's bank accounts with half the tournament prize money each, Bryan and Matt packed their stuff, including a trophy to take back to Duel Academy, and Dexter carried it all to the front door for them. The guys looked around the hotel one last time before departing in the limo to the airport.

"We never did figure out who paid our way," Matt commented.

"Who cares?" Bryan asked. "If it was Leona, then she got what she wanted. And made some money off it because that bookie cleaned up with so many bets against us. Oh!" He reached into his pocket. "Speaking of cleaned up…" he said as he revealed his oversized wallet clearly loaded with a big pile of bills.

"You shouldn't gamble, bro," Matt commented. "It's not morally sound."

"Half of it's yours," Bryan offered.

Matt's eyes popped open and he allowed a grin to show across his face. "Well, morals are tricky."

"My point exactly."

* * *

This ends the introductory story. I hope you enjoyed it because this is probably the only time the chapters will be disjointed like they were. The rest of the story will be more like the tournament--a short period of "world time" that takes several chapters to conclude. I will probably post the next story arc as a separate story. My reasoning for this decision is as follows:  
(1) Building this story chapter on chapter continuously leads to 80-chapter stories, which can be awfully intimidating for someone who wants to start from the beginning.  
(2) It is technically a separate story; the connecting feature is the characters.  
(3) The next arc does not center on Duel Academy, making the title of this story obsolete for the next one.

I hope you all stay alert for my next story: "The Legends of the Shadow Realm"


	19. Spenta Mainyu cards

This is a collection of the cards I created for Leona Moxley's deck to end the story. I will eventually create more cards for certain opponents, but the only real cards I plan to tweak (i.e., change their effects) are Bubbleman (draw two cards if he's the only card on the field, ignoring the cards in the hand) and Card of Sanctity (both players draw until they hold six cards); I like those anime effects more than their real, barely likeable effects.

* * *

Divine Spark – Vohu Manah  
Stars: 4  
Attribute: Light  
Type: Fairy/Effect  
Attack: 1800  
Defense: 1800  
"When this monster is successfully Special Summoned, Special Summon 1 Vohu Manah Token (4/1800/1800). When this monster or a Vohu Manah Token is Tributed, Special Summon 1 Divine Spark – Vohu Manah from your hand or deck."

Divine Spark – Asha Vahishta  
Trap Card  
"Negate the activation of a Spell or Trap card, or negate the summoning of an opponent's monster. You can Special Summon 1 Divine Spark – Vohu Manah from your hand."

Divine Spark – Khshathra Vairya  
Stars: 4  
Attribute: Light  
Type: Fairy/Effect  
Attack: 800  
Defense: 2500  
"When this monster is Normal Summoned, switch it to defense position. This monster can attack from defense position."

Divine Spark – Armaiti  
Continuous Spell Card  
"Special Summon all Divine Spark monsters in your Graveyard in attack position. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, all Divine Spark monsters take no Battle Damage and cannot damage your opponent's Life Points. You may summon monsters into your Spell/Trap Zone."

Divine Spark – Haurvatat  
Stars: 3  
Attribute: Light  
Type: Fairy/Effect  
Attack: 600  
Defense: 1000  
"When this card is face-up on the field during your Standby Phase, increase your Life Points by the number of attack points this card currently has. By sending this face-up monster and one Continuous Spell or Trap Card to the Graveyard, you can protect any face-up Divine Spark monsters from being destroyed this turn."

Divine Spark – Ameratat  
Stars: 6  
Attribute: Light  
Type: Fairy/Effect  
Attack: 2000  
Defense: 1500  
"When this monster is removed from the field by your opponent, Special Summon two Immortal Plant Tokens (1/500/500) to your side of the field. As long as this card remains in the Graveyard, Special Summon Immortal Plant Tokens until you have two on your field during every End Phase."

Spenta Mainyu  
Stars: 10  
Attribute: Light  
Type: Fairy/Effect  
Attack: 2400  
Defense: 4000  
"This card cannot be Special Summoned. When you summon this card, discard your entire hand. This monster cannot be targeted by attack and cannot target your opponent's monsters. All attacks declared by this card must be Direct Attacks. Spell and Trap Cards cannot be activated when this monster battles."

Yazata  
Trap Card  
"Tribute your opponent's attacking monster and increase the ATK of a monster on your side of the field by the same number as the destroyed monster. When your selected monster battles your opponent's monsters, Battle Damage inflicted upon your opponent is reduced to 0."


End file.
